Terry Flanagan's quest for the WBO junior welterweight title will now take place in June.
Flanagan's title fight against Maurice Hooker will be the co-feature bout on the June 9 Manchester Arena boxing card headlined by Tyson Fury's return to the ring.
The fight originally was supposed to take place on April 14. That fight was going to be part of a boxing card headlined by Billy Joe Saunders' WBO middleweight title defense against Martin Murray, but Saunders suffered an injury that postponed the fight, leaving Flanagan vs. Hooker looking for a new date and venue. The Billy Joe Saunders vs. Martin Murray fight has been rescheduled for June 23.
"Winning this fight will prove that I'm a legitimate 140-pound fighter. I'm not looking past Hooker, but I'm very confident I'll be able to deal with anything he throws at me to become a two-weight world champion," Flanagan said when the fight got rescheduled.
Flanagan, a former WBO lightweight champion, made a number of title defenses in late 2016 and 2017 against lower opposition after numerous attempts to fight former top contender Felix Verdejo failed. Flanagan decided to vacate the title and move up in weight, putting him in the mandatory challenger position for the title previously vacated by Terence Crawford. Flanagan has held the WBO lightweight title from 2015 to 2017.
Hooker, the WBO-NABO junior welterweight champion since 2015, is undefeated as a pro boxer with a 23-0-3 record. Hooker has won his last two fights after fighting former world champion Darleys Perez to a draw.