Terry Flanagan vs Diego Magdaleno and Liam Smith vs John Thompson - boxing on TV this weekend

Manchester hosts a stacked card on Saturday night

WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan

Flanagan vs Magdaleno and Smith vs Thompson, Saturday night from 5pm, BoxNation

One of the best domestic cards of the year will take place on Saturday night in Manchester, as two British fighters contest for world titles.

This event was initially named World War III due to the then inclusion of a third world championship match between Andy Lee and Billy Saunders, but despite the cancellation of that bout, the name has stayed the same perhaps because there has already been a second World War.

Hyperbolic billing aside, an intriguing main event will cast a shadow on the rest of the action as current WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan defends his title for the first time against Diego Magdaleno.

28-0 across a six year career, Flanagan clinched gold in July when Jose Zepeda was unable to continue in their bout due to a shoulder injury.

Like David Arquette when he became WCW champion or when Darren Clarke won the 2011 Open, Flanagan has been accused of being a fluke titleholder, but his first defence comes against a difficult opponent.

Liam Smith lands a blow on David Ezequiel Romero back in April

Magdaleno has lost only once in 29 fights and that happened 18 months ago when he was narrowly defeated by Roman Martinez in a super featherweight title bout.

The American star has since accumulated a five fight unbeaten streak, and has knocked down all of his rivals during his winning run.

Flanagan can take a shot well however, and has proved to be a suffocating opponent for even the toughest of boxers.

Rugged rivals including Stephen Ormond and Martin Gethin both failed to hear the final bell against Flanagan, who uses a methodical pace and surprising strength to take control in the ring.

The similarities between Flanagan and Magdaleno will be a key element of the contest, as the eventual winner should be the one who utilises their comparable characteristics with more panache.

Both are southpaw fighters, both have excellent stamina, and each has more sting in their shots than people perceive based on their KO percentages.

Flanagan is the slight betting favourite at 8/11, while Magdaleno’s chances of winning is priced at 7/5.

The vacant WBO light middleweight belt is on the line in the second world title bout of the night, where Liverpool’s undefeated Liam Smith fights the confident John Thompson.

Few would have expected Liam to be the first of the four Smith brothers to win a world championship, but he has an excellent opportunity to do so against his American opponent.

Smith was initially scheduled to meet the powerful Michel Soro, before Thompson replaced the Frenchman due to promotional issues.

The switch in opponent will have been a welcome relief to the 27-year-old Liverpudlian, who has stopped his last five opponents in some style.

Thompson is in excellent recent form too and has already won three times this year in ESPN’s Boxcino Tournament, but he is most well known for being brutally knocked out in the second round of his January 2014 fight with Frank Galarza.

Although the American has managed to recover from such a damaging defeat, his languid style should suit the conventional Smith, whose main attribute seems to be that he does everything pretty well.

Smith is not blessed with elite power, movement or finesse, but he has a terrific work ethic in and out of the ring, and has boxed the 12 round distance twice while Thompson has never been past eight rounds.

Thompson enjoys painting in his spare time, but will need to be as free-flowing as Jackson Pollock to unsettle the composed Smith who is the betting favourite at 4/11.

An excellent undercard continues with Luke Blackledge defending his Commonwealth super middleweight title against Lee Markham.

Blackledge has recovered well since a November 2013 knockout loss to Rocky Fielding by winning five straight fights, and the man who sparred with Carl Froch prior to that defeat is looking for higher honours after this fight.

Markham represents a difficult challenge though, and the Essex man most recently fought to a hugely entertaining 10 round draw with Frank Buglioni last May.

2011 AIBA World Boxing Championships silver medalist Thomas Stalker has endured a tricky transition to professional boxing, and the 31-year-old will compete in his last chance for relevancy on Saturday night against Craig Evans.

Despite his tremendous amateur credentials, Stalker is not performing well at this level of boxing and has only won once in his last three bouts.

Evans suffered the first loss of his 15 fight career five months ago against Scott Cardle, but gave a good account of himself in that bout and is the favourite to heap even more misery onto his opponent.

Stalker’s pro woes began with a TKO defeat to Jack Catterall last October, and the 12-0 Catterall will also fight in Manchester against Finland’s Jarkko Putkonen.

Elsewhere on the bill, highly rated bantamweight star Ryan Burnett warms up for next month's British title challenge with Jason Booth, Adrian Gonzalez and Jon Kays compete in a super featherweight grudge match, while India’s Beijing 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Vijender Singh makes his professional debut.