The Velodrome in Manchester, United Kingdom hosts Frank Warren and his Queensbury Promotions presents a full 14 fight boxing card headlined by the Lightweight twelve round bout between Terry Flanagan (27-0) and Jose Zepeda (23-0). The fight is for the vacant WBO title, and the match has Flanagan as the razor thin favorite paying (-120), with Zepeda coming back at (+100). There is no over/under posted for the fight. This was the title belt that was vacated when Terrence Crawford moved up in weight class, and Warren has been bringing along Flanagan for just such an opportunity. Zepeda has fought in Mexico and in the United States, but this is his first trip to the UK for a fight. Flanagan has never received anything but home-cooking, having always fought in the United Kingdom, but Zepeda brings a far higher level of competition on his resume than the local fighter. The belt is meaningful to the Brits as their own Ricky Burns held the belt for two and a half years. In the Super Flyweight division, Paul Butler and Gustavo Molina are scheduled for 10 rounds, with no over/under posted. Butler, who is (17-1) overall, is a huge (-12500) favorite over Molina, who is returning at (+5000). Butler is coming off the first setback of his career, as he was stopped by Zolani Tete in the eighth round of his bid for the IBF World Super Flyweight Title. Butler has held regional titles at Super Flyweight and at Bantamweight, and in June of last year he won the IBF World title at Bantamweight with a win over Stuart Hall (16-2-2). Butler is not a big puncher (8 career KOs) and he was thoroughly out-boxed by Tete in his last outing, so it is doubtful Warren and matchmaker Jason McClory are going to take a risk with Butler here. Another line popping up at the books features Liam Walsh fighting for the vacant WBO Inter-Continental title at Lightweight. The books have Walsh a big (-5000) favorite over Troy James, who is returning at (+2500). Walsh is (18-0) and he has held British and Commonwealth titles at Super Featherweight, but he has fought at Lightweight before as back in July of 2014 he faced Domenico Urbano and won the WBO European title. James is (17-2-1) and he has nowhere near the level of competition under his belt that Walsh has. James’ record is filled with journeymen and trial horses, as six of his opponents have tallied over 30 losses. Some websites are posting Walsh as facing TBA at this time, so Walsh’s opponent may be changing. Look for more lines from this event to pop up at the sport-books throughout the week, as many fights are still getting squared away. Popular, undefeated Middleweight Billy Joe Saunders (21-0) is getting what will likely be a tune-up fight before he faces Andy Lee in September for the WBO World title. Also looking to extend a three fight winning streak is Heavyweight Alexander Ustinov, who is (30-1) overall and is scheduled to face TBA as of now.
