By Edward Chaykovsky

Steve Wood, the manager of WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan (33-0, 13 KOs), is ready to begin negotiations for a showdown with WBO super featherweight world champion Vasyl Lomachenko (8-1, 6 KOs).

Two weeks ago, both boxers were in action with defenses of their world titles. Flanagan retained his title for a fifth time with a twelve round unanimous decision over Petr Petrov in Manchester, and Lomachenko battered Jason Sosa for a ninth round stoppage in Maryland.

"We're certainly keen to negotiate for the fight. Lomachenko is a super-featherweight who was a featherweight so he'd be coming up here trying to be a three-weight world champion. With his ability, you've got to say he'd be capable of doing that," Wood told Nick Parkinson.

"From our point of view, we have won our five defences easily and it's either a unification fight or Lomachenko next. Lomachenko is very good but Terry is a big lightweight with good foot movement. We're at the stage where we'd definitely compete with Lomachenko so why not have it and take the chance to fight one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world?"

Flanagan's promoter, Frank Warren, would also love to make a deal between Flanagan and Lomachenko, who is promoted by Top Rank.

Lomachenko is attempting to fight the other champions at 130, but he admits that a move to 135 is very likely in the near future.

Wood believes Flanagan will be able to take the punches that are coming at him from Lomachenko. Flanagan is a very big lightweight and uses size and reach to his full advantage. But Lomachenko is a two-time Olympic gold medal winner and regarded by some as the best amateur fighter in the history of the sport.

"I'm sure Lomachenko would carry power with him but eventually you get to a stage where you have all the slick moves but your punches don't have the effect that they had at the lighter weights. The punches coming back also come from bigger people. Terry is big at 135 pounds and the punching power would be with us going into the fight," Wood said.

"Hopefully, Terry's best will be enough to beat Lomachenko and then he'll be in a position to get the recognition he deserves. With five defences of his world title, people still aren't acknowledging that he's a good fighter. We believe Terry has what it takes to compete at elite level and become an elite fighter."