A HEAVY HEART ICONIC BRITISH PROMOTER FRANK WARREN HAS ALWAYS LOVED THE HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION – AND WHAT HE SEES IN THE CURRENT LANDSCAPE DELIGHTS HIM By Gareth A. Davies
F rank Warren has just celebrated 45 years as a licensed boxing promoter on what has been an extraordinary journey of stamina, survival and self-belief. As well as being inducted into the sport’s International Boxing Hall of Fame and putting on some of the greatest fight nights ever seen, creating the first ever exclusive boxing channel (BoxNation) and even being shot, Warren has as much vim and vigor for the industry as he ever had. Born in 1952, Warren hails from a working-class family in Islington, North London, where his father was a bookmaker. He has always had a fighter’s mentality. The list of the proteges who have walked to the ring under his Queensberry banner is extraordinary – from British boxing legends Frank Bruno to Naseem Hamed, Ricky Hatton to Joe Calzaghe, through Amir Khan to a modern heavyweight star in Tyson Fury. In the following interview, Warren dove deep to discuss his longstanding fascination with heavyweight boxing, which began with an admiration for Muhammad Ali that was influenced by “The Greatest” coming to London twice to fight British favorite Henry Cooper. Warren was instrumental in breaking a stranglehold on boxing held by the BBC, a trio of promoters (Mickey Duff, Jarvis Astaire and Harry Levine) and the Boxing Board in the 1970s with his creation of the National Boxing Council. Working with the infamous Lenny McLean, Warren’s first promotion was an unlicensed event. McLean, a family relative, had associations with London’s criminal fraternity. Warren’s current stable of heavyweights is the strongest in his decorated run as one of the most influential boxing figures from the last half-century. “I believe we have eight of the top 15 heavyweights in the world right now – and not one of them is American,” Warren told The Ring Magazine. They include Fury, Fabio Wardley and rising star Moses Itauma.
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