By Elliot Foster

Terry Flanagan is in line for a unification fight after retaining his world title.

The WBO lightweight champion kept hold of his crown with a stoppage of Mzonke Fana at the Ice Arena in Cardiff.

Flanagan, who is now 31-0 (12 KOs), knocked out the 42-year-old, exclusively live on BoxNation, and is now expected to fight again in September, providing a cut suffered to his right cheek in the fourth round heals appropriately.

The end of the fight, which was pretty one-sided but awkward at the same time, came when the final bell rang and the referee Steve Gray brought the two together.

It went the distance and Flanagan duly retained his belt as all three judges handed in scorecards of 120-106, with the South African former two-time world champion –– who was knocked down twice –– leaving the UK with another loss on his 22-year pro ledger and slips to 38-10 (16 KOs).

The clash was originally scheduled to take place on July 9, as part of the undercard to Tyson Fury’s world heavyweight title rematch against Wladimir Klitschko, but it was forced back a week after Fury pulled out with an injury and caused the collapse of the card.

Boxing Scene understands that Frank Warren, Flanagan’s promoter, has been in discussions with the management team of Dejan Zlaticanin, with a view to making a fight between the pair for the WBO and WBC world titles.

The winner of that fight would then be ordered to defend their titles against the winner of the WBA, WBC Diamond and Ring Magazine title showdown between Anthony Crolla and Jorge Linares on September 24 at Manchester Arena.

It is believed that the aforementioned Manchester Arena would also be the venue for any fight between Flanagan and Zlaticanin, who has a record of 22-0 (15 KOs), but at this stage only discussions have taken place and no deal has been finalised.

ON THE UNDERCARD

Tommy Langford scored a second stoppage in his past three fights and is now looking to move towards global honours.

The Birmingham middleweight moved to 17-0 (6 KOs) with a seven-round finish over Timo Laine at the Ice Arena in Cardiff.

Langford, who is now mandatory for Chris Eubank Jr.’s British title, produced a dominant display against his late replacement opponent, exclusively live on BoxNation, to retain the WBO Inter-Continental title.

Laine, who came in as a stand-in for Germany’s Ronny Gabel, has now slipped to 15-7 (4 KOs) and barely threw a shot throughout the whole fight.

For Langford, it’s a step in the right direction and his promoter Frank Warren has said, much like his welterweight stablemate Bradley Skeete, that he is looking to move him into a position to fight for a world title in the next 12 to 18 months.

The end came after 88 seconds of round seven and for the watching crowd at ringside probably not a moment too soon.

Meanwhile, Tyrone McKenna made a successful step down to super-lightweight earlier in the card.

The MGM Marbella-managed puncher, from Belfast, took all six rounds against the game Chris Adaway, winning by 60 points to 54.

He is now 10-0-1 (3 KOs) but Adaway drops to 4-17-2.

And Gary Sweeney claimed his second stoppage victory from two outings in the paid code, ending the challenge of the winless Marek Gabor in the third of four scheduled rounds after multiple knockdowns.