BoxRec

Philadelphia, PA (September 3, 2015) - Boxcino 2014 champion Petr "Zar" Petrov (36-4-2, 17 KO's) will fight undefeated Liam Walsh (19-0, 13 KO's) in a
WBO Lightweight elimination bout on October 10th in Manchester, England.

The winner of the fight will be the mandatory challenger for the winner of the WBO Lightweight title bout between Terry Flanagan and Diego Magdaleno, which will take place on the same card on October 10.

Petrov earned the opportunity on the strength of winning the 2014 Boxcino Lightweight championship when he defeated Fedor Papazov (14-0), Chris Rudd (13-1), and Fernando Carcamo (17-5).

"This is a great opportunity to fight in a WBO final eliminator, this brings me closer to a world title which has been a lifelong dream of mine. It's been a long road for me to get to this position, and I want to make my family and friends proud. I want to thank Artie Pelullo for believing in me and for getting me the chance, I won't disappoint,"said Petrov.

"Fighting Liam Walsh on his home turf will be tough, but at this point in my career there is no cutting corners. Walsh is in my way, and I must beat him to achieve my goals. He is a young-strong fighter, but he has never seen anybody like me inside the ring."

Said Banner Promotions President, Arthur Pelullo, "This is another case of Boxcino being the springboard to a huge a opportunity. Petr has earned this opportunity, and we believe that he will win this fight and fight the winner of the main event between Flanagan and Magdaleno."

On April 3rd, Petrov won a 10-round unanimous decision over former world champion Gamaliel Diaz in Corona, California.

Petrov will join Banner Promotions stablemate John Thompson who will challenge for the WBO Jr. Middleweight title against Liam Smith on the same card.

Good fight. I like this one.

Interesting fight but I would rather Liam fight at SFW, as we see every week size matters when you step up to world level and if Liam wins this I think the true word level guys will be too big. Its just that Fwank wants an in house world title fight £££££.

Watching Walsh I tend to think makes me think he's a Lightweight boiling down, and should shake the shackles of that extra 5lbs...you might be right though. And the depth at 130 is incredible compared to 135 with SFW looking like murders row in comparison to Lightweight

Great fight. I really rate Walsh but I also rate Petrov.
I fancy Walsh by widish points decision.
Even without the Lee-Saunders fight it's a cracking bill.

Boxing Prospect wrote:Watching Walsh I tend to think makes me think he's a Lightweight boiling down, and should shake the shackles of that extra 5lbs...you might be right though. And the depth at 130 is incredible compared to 135 with SFW looking like murders row in comparison to Lightweight

You think ?? I still feel Walsh would have a significantly better chance of picking up a World Title at Super Feather. I think he can smash Rocky Martinez up ( or Saldio if he wins the rematch). Shame he has had injuries and inactivity which could have stopped him reaching his full potential at that weight.


I'll be honest I'm not aware of loads of fighters at Super Feather. I know the two Japenese Champs are very good fighters and Javier Fortuna is solid but at lightweight fightesr such as Dejan Zlaticanin and Richard Commey are very dangerous for the current belt holders. Even Diego Magdeleno who didn't impress me at all in his last fight is seen as 50/50 with bookies against Flanagan at this stage.

Naandrew wrote:

Boxing Prospect wrote:Watching Walsh I tend to think makes me think he's a Lightweight boiling down, and should shake the shackles of that extra 5lbs...you might be right though. And the depth at 130 is incredible compared to 135 with SFW looking like murders row in comparison to Lightweight

You think ?? I still feel Walsh would have a significantly better chance of picking up a World Title at Super Feather. I think he can smash Rocky Martinez up ( or Saldio if he wins the rematch). Shame he has had injuries and inactivity which could have stopped him reaching his full potential at that weight.

I'll be honest I'm not aware of loads of fighters at Super Feather. I know the two Japenese Champs are very good fighters and Javier Fortuna is solid but at lightweight fightesr such as Dejan Zlaticanin and Richard Commey are very dangerous for the current belt holders. Even Diego Magdeleno who didn't impress me at all in his last fight is seen as 50/50 with bookies against Flanagan at this stage.

At Super Featherweight the Japanese fighters are very good (and I don't just mean the two world champions, Ito, Naito and Kaneko are all very solid fighters), as is Thailand's Jomthong. IBF champion Pedraza may well be the dark horse of the division, Fortuna is very good and with contenders like Francisco Vargas, Edner Cherry, Miguel Berchelt, Yuriorkis Gamboa (I suspect he'll be at 130 and not 135 going forward), Bryan Vasquez, Romain Jacob, Andres Gutierrez, Jhonny Gonzalez, Oscar Valdez, Claudio Marrero, Sergio Thompson, Jonathan Victor Barros and I'll admit I've been impressed by Joel Diaz Jr.

The Salido/Martinez winner is the divisional weak link with out a doubt.

At Lightweight you have the likes of Linares, Matthews, Flanagan and Perez as title holders whilst contenders include, as you mentioned, Zlaticanin and Commey, Ermarno Marsili, Kevin Mitchell, Rances Barthelemy (probably the most interesting contender there), Diego Magdaleno, Daud Yodan, Liam Walsh, Kevin Mitchell, Denis Shafkov, Miguel Vazquez and Petr Petrov. Good contenders but nothing as scary as Vargas, Gamboa, Valdez or Jomthong IMO.

In the long run Lightweight will be looking at Luke Campbell, Felix Verdejo, Masayoshi Nakatani, and Scott Cardle.

Boxing Prospect wrote:Good fight. I like this one.

Yeah, decent fight. Petrov is solid enough but I fancy there may be a touch of Selby - Gradovich to this, Walsh more elusive and skillful I m o

Is the Petrov vs Walsh fight still on? Boxrec has the fight as Walsh vs Troy James?

Petrov is a very dangerous fight for Walsh. A good solid fighter that lacks a big punch but can break down a fighter with flurries, has a great engine and a great ring IQ. He's a decent watch and been around the block.

I was particularly impressed with how he won the Boxcino tourney by stopping Carcamo, which seems ages ago now!

If I remember right, Petrov was supposed to fight Hank Lundy on Espn in a main event but Lundy missed weight, so the fight was cancelled, leaving Petrov in no man's land, hence the break inbetween fights.

I'm actually surprised he'd be coming over here to fight Walsh - he must be in line to get a decent name in the US.

In saying all that, I could see Walsh going deep in the trenches and being able to out slug Petrov(he does stand toe-to-toe on occasion) but I'd also be wary that the Spaniard is a very clever fighter and a level above anyone that Liam has faced thus far.

It won't be Walsh Vs Troy on 10th October, Troy is still out injured, he will be back and ready for end of November, beginning of December time so that find get will probably take place around then between the 2

Boxingcutsman wrote:It won't be Walsh Vs Troy on 10th October, Troy is still out injured, he will be back and ready for end of November, beginning of December time so that find get will probably take place around then between the 2

I can't see walsh defending his british title again if he gets and wins a final eliminator for a world title to risky imo. Troy v...... townend smith ward for vacant title