The rise, fall and rise of Frank Warren.. 40 years and still going strong
HE MIGHT HAVE STARTED SMALL, BUT THERE’S BEEN NO STOPPING THE PROMOTER, NOT EVEN GETTING SHOT OR PUNCHED BY TYSON
FRANK WARREN jokes that “you could have shot a blunderbuss and not hit anyone” at his first show at the Bloomsbury Crest Hotel between American heavyweights Jerry Martin and Otis Gordon.
The crowd for his 40th anniversary show at Church House in Westminster on Saturday may be just as sparse, but for very different reasons.
In 1980, Warren was up against a cartel , which included Terry Lawless and Mickey Duff, while Saturday’s audience will be a few invited key workers and Chelsea Pensioners because of the coronavirus restrictions.
Warren will prevail, just like he did against the cartel, when he overcame their opposition to become Britain’s top promoter.
Much of what British boxing is today is down to Warren and he brought in live TV, pay-per-view and ring-walk music. He took the sport from smoke-filled small halls into big arenas and football stadiums to transform it into Saturday night entertainment.
“When I got involved, for a title fight, someone would blow a trumpet and they would bring in the main event because nothing was live,” he told Mirror Sport.
“The cartel didn’t want live fights on TV because they were worried it would affect the crowds. I brought live TV in and music. At the time, I remember, the Board of Control didn’t like it. I can recall Ray Clarke, who was general secretary back then, with his hands over his ears.”
There have been some bumps along the way, most seriously in 1989, when he was shot twice and almost killed by a gunman outside the
Broadway Theatre in Barking. With black humour, Warren calls it his lead-plan diet – he lost three stone and part of his lung. No one was ever brought to justice and one of Warren’s former fighters, Terry Marsh, was tried and acquitted.
“It was serious, but what are you going to do?” said Warren, who grew up on the Priory Green council estate in Islington and left school at 14.
“You’ve got to keep moving on. I’m mentally strong and if I did think about it, I’d think about doing something about it, so it’s best I don’t.”
Warren, inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 2008, got into boxing by acting as cornerman with his uncle Bob for his second cousin Lenny McLean – and from that progressed into promoting.
He has worked with many of Britain’s best fighters, from Naseem Hamed to Ricky Hatton, from Frank Bruno to Nigel Benn and Tyson Fury to Joe Calzaghe.
He also promoted Mike Tyson twice in the UK in 2000, although that ended badly when the self-styled “baddest man on the planet” punched him before the second fight at Hampden Park.
“I did him a big favour over that and he would have been in a lot of trouble,” said Warren.
“It’s funny with some people – you do them a favour and they don’t even realise it.
“He got bought out of trouble so often. He was a professional victim by the end, a victim of everything.”
Warren, 68, has handed over some of the running of his Queensberry Promotions to his sons Francis and George, but says he will carry on for as long as he still enjoys it.
He is relishing 2021 and the likelihood of Fury facing Anthony Joshua for the undisputed world heavyweight title.
“That’s the sort of fight I dreamt of promoting when I started out 40 years ago,” he said, with a smile. “That would be the icing on the cake.”
Frank and Fearless: A Life in Boxing by Frank Warren is published on February 4 by Constable and is available for pre-order now.
‘Fury v Joshua is the sort of fight I dreamt of promoting when I started 40 years ago’
TWO FRANKS Warren and Bruno
HIGHS.. LOWS Warren and Terry Marsh and (below) the scene of his shooting
RECEIVING END With Julius Francis and Tyson and (below) the black eye
NEW DAWN With heavyweight king Fury