Diego Magdaleno to challenge Terry Flanagan for WBO belt

Aug

Lightweight contender Diego Magdaleno will challenge Terry Flanagan for the WBO title, manager Frank Espinoza confirmed to RingTV.com on Monday night.

Magdaleno will face Flanagan in a 12 round bout on Oct. 10 at the Manchester (formerly the M.E.N.) Arena in Manchester, England.

Since losing by split decision to Roman ‘Rocky’ Martinez (in a bid for the WBO 130-pound title) by split decision over 12 rounds in April of 2013, Magdaleno has won his last five bouts in a row, three of those by knockout

In his last bout on Jun. 26, Magdaleno (28-1, 12 KOs), who hails from Las Vegas, Nev., stopped Jose Gonzalez in the seventh round. The bout ended in odd sequence when Gonzalez refused to continue after Magdaleno landed what was deemed an accidental low blow.

Espinoza believes Magdaleno is hungry and motivated enough to travel abroad and win a world title.

“Diego understands that he has to go in and take the fight to Terry, considering he is fighting in his hometown,” Espinoza told RingTV over the phone on Monday night. “He’s learned from the Martinez fight, but I believe having a trainer like Joel Diaz could be the deciding factor in the fight.”

Magdaleno trains with Diaz in Indio, Calif.

Flanagan (28-0, 11 KOs), who will be fighting in his hometown, won the vacant WBO title on Jul. 11 when Jose Zepeda retired after the second round after it was discovered he suffered a dislocated left shoulder.

Also on the card, Andy Lee will defend his WBO middleweight title against Billy Joe Saunders. Unbeaten Liam Smith and Michel Soro will fight for the vacant WBO junior middleweight title.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (CA) Star newspaper, Boxingscene.com, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing