Terry Flanagan vs Jose Zepeda: Boxing on TV, including Keith Thurman vs Luis Collazo

Where to watch all this weekend's boxing action

Terry Flanagan with trainer and former boxer Ricky Hatton (Getty Images)

Flanagan vs Zepeda, Saturday night 7.00pm, BoxNation

Britain has another opportunity to crown a world champion on Saturday night in Manchester as the undefeated Terry Flanagan competes for the vacant WBO lightweight title against American Jose Zepeda.

In 2006, the then 16-year-old Flanagan snuck into the Manchester Arena to view Ricky Hatton’s coronation victory over Kostya Tszyu, and a decade later he now has the opportunity to claim his first world title triumph in the very same city.

27-0 across a seven year career, Flanagan came of age in 2012 when he defeated Patrick Walsh, Derry Mathews and Gary Sykes in one night, and continued his ascent up the rankings by claiming the British title over Martin Gethin a year ago.

Flanagan’s last fight produced a career best performance against Stephen Ormond in February, and the 26-year-old arrives into this defining bout full of confidence and hope.

Zepeda represents a very difficult challenge however, as the 23-0 star has stopped 20 of his opponents in devastating fashion.

Although Flanagan is not a particularly fearsome puncher, his last four opponents have failed to survive until the final bell, and he will fancy his chances to attack in the latter stages as Zepeda has never gone past eight rounds in his career.

Despite his lack of experience in longer round bouts, Zepeda has sparred with many world class boxers including Chris Algieri and Timothy Bradley, and was one of Floyd Mayweather’s chief sparring partners for the Manny Pacquiao fight.

The betting odds reflects the close battle many fans are expecting, with Flanagan a narrow favourite at 8/11, and Zepeda available at 13/10.

Zepeda’s power will be a threat throughout, but Flanagan has rarely looked flustered in the ring, so if you fancy the American to prevail on enemy soil there is value on a points victory at 11/2, rather than the much smaller stoppage odds of 2/1.

Paul Butler returns to action on the undercard in his first outing since being brutally knocked out by Zolani Tete back in March.

The former IBF bantamweight champion continues his return to super flyweight in Manchester against Gustavo Molina, who is the third Mexican to face Butler in his last seven fights.

Both prior Mexican opponents were comfortably defeated by the Englishman, who is the overwhelming favourite to make it a trio of victories with miniscule odds of 1/100, while Molina can be bet on to win at 20/1.

Expect a comfortable victory for Butler, but not necessarily a spectacular one as he has only stopped one of his last six opponents, and may be gun-shy after his crushing knockout loss last time out.

British and Commonwealth super featherweight champion Liam Walsh seeks his 19th consecutive win in Manchester, and faces 23-10 Brazilian Isaias Santos Sampaio who is a late replacement for Coventry’s Troy James.

Walsh is on an electrifying run of form after superb wins over Joe Murray, Gary Sykes and Kevin Hooper, while nine of Sampaio’s ten career losses have come via stoppage.

The undercard in Manchester also features red hot prospect Jack Catterall, giant heavyweight Alexander Ustinov, and powerful youngster Joe Costello.

Thurman vs Collazo, Saturday night 2.00am, ESPN

America’s Keith Thurman has developed into one of the best Welterweight boxers in the world, and puts his WBA title on the line in Tampa, Florida against 42 fight veteran Luis Collazo.

Thurman has blown through all 25 of his professional opponents, including a concussive points victory over Robert Guerrero in March.

At 26-years-old, the American is building a reputation as a charismatic fighter who backs up his talking up in the ring, and is a wide favourite over the 15-year veteran Collazo.

Now 34, Collazo is best known to British fans for losing efforts to both Amir Khan and Ricky Hatton, but the New York native is a former holder of this belt which he defended once before dropping it to Hatton nine years ago.

21 stoppage victories indicates the power Thurman possesses, but though Collazo has been dropped in many of his fights, he has only been finished once in his career, and will fight tactically to try and avoid the heavy power shots from his younger rival.

Expect a Thurman victory, but look at the 15/8 odds for him to win on points as this is a contest which could go the distance.

Chief support on the undercard in Tampa is a 10 round middleweight bout between 21-0 Tony Harrison, and 23-2-1 Willie Nelson.

Harrison has finished his last ten opponents so is the favourite to succeed once again, while Nelson will be hoping that his rival is always on his mind following the contest.