Flanagan to hit it big against Opetaia in National Boxing Series

Mark Flanagan who has fought in world title bouts in Russia and France, gets the chance to score his biggest career win against the slick-moving southpaw Jai Opetaia at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion next Saturday.

QUEENSLAND power-puncher Mark Flanagan will usher in a new era of Australian sport next week when the two-time world title challenger headlines Fox Sports’ new National Boxing Series in a showdown with unbeaten Olympian Jai Opetaia.

Flanagan who has fought in world title bouts in Russia and France, gets the chance to score his biggest career win against the slick-moving southpaw at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion next Saturday (November 16).

The fight is one of the most anticipated showdowns in Australian boxing and the headline act for a new series of big fight cards around Australia being put together by Jeff Horn’s promoter Dean Lonergan.

Mark Flanagan goes after Russian great Denis Lebedev in their WBA cruiserweight title fight. (Photo by Valery Sharifulin\TASS via Getty Images)

Flanagan has been sparring the biggest and best southpaws in Australia in readiness including Ipswich giant Demsey McKean, the world’s No. 14 ranked heavyweight, Perth bomber Floyd Masson and Wynnum-Manly rugby league star turned boxing KO machine Luke Modini.

The 29-year-old grew up poor in a Townsville housing commission property, walking eight kilometres to and from school because there was no money for bus fare. His mum couldn’t afford to buy Flanagan footy boots and only the kindness of famed local fight trainer Dennis Clancy let him learn boxing for free.

Jai Opetaia unloads on Navosa Ioata at The Star in Sydney. Picture: Brett Costello

The National Boxing Series has been four years in the planning and will see seven televised boxing events per year live on Fox Sports, broadcast from Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

``I want to bring boxing back as one of the major sports in Australia,’’ he said.

``We want to create fights of major global significance.’’

Caboolture’s Commonwealth Games representative Liam Wilson will fight on next week’s Flanagan card and a week later Fox will televise Victorian super-middleweight Jayde Mitchell against Russian Stanislav Kashtanov in Melbourne.

Lonergan has also signed Jeff Fenech’s star super-bantamweight Brock Jarvis to a long-term deal and expects him to be world champion within five more bouts.

Rising Queensland stars Liam Wilson and Issac Hardman will also be features in the series.