The Manchester Arena hosts Frank Warren and his Queensbury Promotions for a boxing card with eleven scheduled fights. Theco-main events see two WBO World Titles on the line, and five of the fights on the card are getting attention at the sportbooks. There are no over/under lines available for these fights. Terry Flanagan (28-0) defends his Lightweight title as a (-155) favorite over Diego Magdaleno (28-1), who is coming back at (+135). For Magdaleno, who has recently moved up the the Lightweight division, this is his second bid at a world title, having dropped an April of 2013 bout to Roman Martinez via split decision for the WBO Super Featherweight belt. As for Flanagan, he captured the vacant Lightweight title this past July when he stopped Jose Zepeda in the second round. This is the belt that was formerly held by undefeated Terrence Crawford (26-0), who has since moved up in weight. The vacant Super Welterweight title is on the line as John Thompson (17-1)is a (+245) underdog to Liam Smith (20-0-1), who is coming back at (-290). The only blemish on Smith’s record is a draw back in September of 2010. For Thompson’s part, he took his first loss in January of 2014 and he took 13 months off before returning to ESPN and the 2015 Boxcino tournament where he picked up three straight wins, including a second round TKO of Brandon Adams in the finals back in May. In Super Middleweight action the BBBofC Commonwealth belt is on the line as Lee Markham (14-2-1) returns at an even (+100) in hischallenge against titleholder Luke Blackledge (19-2-2), who is paying (-140). Blackledge captured the belt last April with a wunanimous decision victory over Liam Cameron, while Markham has gone (0-1-1) in his last two fights. The Super Lightweight division sees 10 round action between two undefeated fighters with identical (12-0) records as Jarkko Putkonen faces Jack Catterall. Putkonen, from Finland, is a big (+1700) underdog to Catterall, who is returning at (-5100). Catterall is making the second defense of his WBO Inter-Continental belt, while Putkonnen is making his first trip out of Finland, In a Middleweight 4 round bout, 2008 Olympic Bronze Medalist Vijender Singh is a huge (-11000) favorite over Sonny Whiting (2-1), who is coming back at (+3000). Despite being 30 years old, this is the Indian fighter’s boxing debut and he is expected to receive a lot of support from England’s large Indian community. Whiting, 26, has been a professional for a little over a year and he has one of his two wins by KO.
