Frank Warren is a very proud man, so it’s no surprise he took offense at last week’s issue, writes Matt Christie.
It WAS fantastic to see some quality boxing at York Hall on Friday night and it was no surprise to hear promoter Frank Warren then read this post when invited by IFL TV. He is a proud, passionate and hard-working man who has always strived to deliver quality.
Last week in our preview, we gave the event two stars because, for a televised show, we felt it lacked depth. In short, the left side of the bill had a cumulative total of one loss and the right side had 147. Yet it exceeded our expectations, largely because the underdogs were, for the most part, capable and ambitious.
We understand why Frank found the two stars to be tough. For over 40 years we have become accustomed to seeing Warren, one of the biggest promoters, produce predominantly good events. But given the setting of Bethnal Green, perhaps we should have simply judged it for what it was: a televised show in a small hall, rather than a show from a Hall of Fame promoter that has put on some of the best nights from this country. Because as a small theater show it was superior, even on paper, to the vast majority that we currently have.
Although we only occasionally get the winners wrong in our previews, it’s not so easy to predict whether the fights themselves will actually entertain, particularly when an 8-0 British prospect battles an unknown 3-35-1 visitor. But we’ve seen enough boxing in our 113-year history, and read enough reports, to know that it’s rarely a recipe for a fight of the year.
Some contests that we consider worthy of five stars, like last weekend’s third fight between Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin, for example, turn out to be two-star contests in reality. That’s why, for balance and fairness, we provide star ratings before and after events. However, it’s fair to point out that an event with numerous 50/50 fights will always be viewed more favorably than a card packed with prospects versus officials. However, we understand why Frank was furious: a poor preview can hurt ticket sales and TV viewership. That is never the goal. We want each show to be attractive to as many people as possible, we are not happy otherwise. That said, all the UK TV promoters have run poor game shows that simply shouldn’t be on TV in recent months; it’s our job to highlight that.
“I think the trade magazine is disrespectful. Was it a two star show? Did all the fans think it was a two star show? Warren said before referencing a recent topic when we highlighted the high percentage of contests now taking place between ticket sellers and day laborers. “And that stupid thing they’ve been saying about boxers on the cards, boxers and records. Don’t they understand what it’s all about bringing in young fighters, learning their craft and their craft?
We have long understood the importance of young boxers learning their trade and the vital role officials play in that education. The point we’re trying to make, though, is that an increasing number of shows now hardly have a single competitive fight. That particular observation was not made with Frank Warren in mind.
“I can’t even believe these people [Boxing News] they’re into boxing, they have no idea, they absolutely have no idea, no wonder they can’t sell any edition of the damn thing,” Warren continued. “I just find it so disrespectful to wrestlers and the bullshit we had with them at Wembley, all that bullshit we banned people from, just blatant lies that they didn’t even put in the magazine when I wrote to them. They are dishonest, absolutely dishonest, and their fish and chips are not worth wrapping.”
For what it’s worth, we printed Warren’s explanation of why BN and so many others ended up in the stands for April’s Tyson Fury-Dillian Whyte showdown, a contest we gave five stars in advance but fell short of. . that billing at the end, such was Fury’s domain.
But Warren is as entitled to his opinion as we are to ours. At BN we will continue to strive to make sport better, fully aware that our opinions will not please everyone. The moment we try to please everyone by simply being a mouthpiece for the promoters, that’s when we completely lose what we’ve stood for since 1909.
We also do not doubt that Warren will change. And neither should he. What he continues to do, at the age of 70, is truly incredible. The passion he has for his craft is unrivaled and his tirade about the Boxing News, a newspaper he considers less than a take-out package, is testimony to that.
