Anthony Crolla v Terry Flanagan closer with Eddie Hearn preparing 'to make offer'
Thursday 12 May 2016 11:12, UK
A world title unification bout between Mancunians Anthony Crolla and Terry Flanagan "makes sense", says promoter Eddie Hearn.
The 29-year-old Crolla (31-4-3-KO13) defended his WBA lightweight crown in style by outgunning Ismael Barroso in seven on May 7 and thoughts turned quickly to a prospective clash with WBO king Flanagan, who attended the same school as 'Million Dollar'.
Flanagan's manager Steve Wood told Sky Sports the team was keen to begin negotiations and Hearn revealed a talk between the two has already taken place.
He told Sky Sports: "I don't think we'll be sitting around a table, but I think there's definitely a desire from both camps to make it happen.
"Anthony Crolla at the moment is riding high in the division. He's on a lot of money and he'd have to be paid a lot of money for that fight. I can deliver that.
People keep asking why I don't take him to America. I don't want to take him to America. I want to keep him in Manchester.
"It's nowhere near the offer that's been made so far. I spoke to Terry Flanagan's manager Steve Wood at length and we'll be making them an offer. It's definitely a fight we want.
"Of course it's a fight that makes sense. I'm a promoter. Two guys from Manchester with world titles and one's a red and one's a blue. It's not rocket science."
Hearn stressed there are several other options on the table, but was less than enthusiastic about the prospect of taking Crolla to Las Vegas.
"We don't want to be held up," he added. "We want to continue this progression. Jorge Linares is a fight we really like. WBC and WBA and The Ring magazine belt. To the fighters, that's the coup de grâce.
"Rances Barthelemy has also been discussed with Al Haymon's team. Most people would go back and have a standard voluntary defence but Anthony feels he's riding this wave and the thought of a unification fight is very appealing to him.
"It all comes down to money at the end of the day. These fighters want paying as much as possible and I don't know who we'd fight in Vegas to create that kind of money.
"He can fill the Manchester Arena against Linares or Flanagan, but can he fill the MGM Grand against Barthelemy? The answer is probably no.
"I just feel we should keep the big fights here. People keep asking why I don't take him to America. I don't want to take him to America. I want to keep him in Manchester and have more of what we had on Saturday and I want the unification fights for him."
