Exclusive Interview: Frank Warren.
 |
Top British promoter Frank Warren was kind enough to speak with us about some of the high profile fights that his promotional company Sports Network has been trying to make for the near future. Read on for the latest news from England’s number one promoter regarding the possibility of |
great domestic matches he is working on for 2005, and the status of negotiations for world title fights involving the likes of Ricky Hatton, Scott Harrison, Joe Calzaghe and Enzo Maccarinelli.
Saddoboxing: Where is Sports Network in regards to the proposed Tszyu-Hatton fight?
Frank Warren: “We are..I think we are very close to finalizing it. I’ve done a deal with Vlad Wharton and he just has to finalize where he’s at with Kostya Tszyu.”
SB: Do you feel that Tszyu is reluctant to fight Ricky, given that Hatton is young, strong and very active?
FW: “We wanted this fight for March or April but if it does get done, it won’t go on until June and that concerns me because obviously I’d like to get on with it sooner than six months down the line. But, having said that, that is Tszyu’s election. I think he’s a great fighter, a great warrior, however I think he knows how good Ricky is.”
SB: Would we be then seeing Ricky in the ring again before June, in order to keep him sharp until the possible date with Tszyu?
FW: “No. If we don’t make the Tszyu fight by…if we don’t get the deal done by Monday then we’re going to make another fight for him and he will fight before June, otherwise we’ll just wait until we fight Tszyu.”
SB: No sense in taking any sort of risk…
FW: “No, and if he did fight it wouldn’t be until March or April, but I’d hate to jeopardize anything.”
SB: Vivian Harris has been in the news lately, about him wanting to fight Hatton should the Tszyu fight fall through.
FW: “Let me tell you, I haven’t got a problem, we can make that fight but we all know how much money Harris gets paid and he’s got to live in the real world. He has a title but for his last fight he had to go on the road again, he went to Germany and he took roughly half the money that was on the table for him before (Sports Network offered Harris approximately 750,000 USD to fight Hatton in Manchester last October). I’d pay a little bit more but he’s not Kostya Tszyu. Tszyu is the number one fighter in the division, and he’s the one with the big contract with an American TV company. Vivian Harris has a title but he has no contract with any TV company in the world.”
SB: So, a potential contest between Hatton and Harris would be a Sky TV fight in Britain, with Sky TV money available…
FW: “It would be whatever deal we could do, with whatever the fight proves to be worth. I’ve got respect for Vivian Harris as a fighter, of course, he’s a good fighter and he’s done well. However, I’ve read where he’s said how much Kostya Tszyu should be getting (to fight Hatton). What is he, a union representative or something? I wouldn’t want him representing me because he’d negotiate me out of a job.”
SB: Concerning Joe Calzaghe and a big fight in the near future, there’s been a few names that have come up in the press: Felix Trinidad, Glen Johnson and most recently Antwun Echols. Where do you stand in regards to Joe right now, will he be fighting Echols next?
FW: “I’ll be seeing Joe this Friday and we’ll talk about things but I don’t think Joe will be fighting Echols soon.”
SB: Scott Harrison has a tough bout coming up with Victor Polo later this month and there’s been a lot of talk about him facing Barrera.
FW: “Yes, and I’ve also have had talks with Bob Arum about Juan Manuel Marquez, but having said that I want to get through this fight with Polo first.”
SB: Enzo Macarrinelli has a big fight coming up with Richie LaMontagne, but will we see a matchup between Enzo and Johnny Nelson later this year?
FW: “Yes, and Enzo is a good young fighter and a tremendous puncher who I think is getting better in every fight. I think we can make the Nelson fight but not until later in the year.”
SB: I know that Enzo really wants that, but is Johnny willing to take the fight?
FW: “Well, he said that he was and then he said that he wasn’t. John’s a nice guy and at the end of the day, he’s a very awkward and difficult fighter, a very fit guy who looks after himself and is very hard to beat. It would be a tough test for Enzo, but I think by June, if everything goes right for both of them it would be a top matchup.”
SB: Is there anything that Sports Network has coming up soon, fights you’re trying to make, that you’d like to talk about?
FW: “I’m just trying to put my guys into fights that they work so hard to put themselves into position for. We just try and do the best we can and we’re constantly doing things to improve the fighter’s careers. For example were trying to put together Wayne Alexander against Jamie Moore and we’ve made an offer for Matt Skelton to fight Roman Greenberg. I hope Greenberg will take it but I think he’ll turn it down. We plan on making a Michael Gomez-Alex Arthur rematch later in the year as well. Those are some of the things we’re working on in regards to our British interests.”
SB: Has this been one of the more successful times for Sports Network, as you have several world champions, others on world level and still more fighters very close to breaking into world level?
FW: “Well, I’ve done that for years and it’s not like we’ve just started doing it. Over the years, we’ve had Hamed, Nigel Benn and all of those guys. It’s sort of coincidental that it’s all sort of come together as far as our fighters right now are concerned but they’ve got a great opportunity, all of them, to be in big fights and some of them are just on the fringes with great hopes of making it.”
SB: Frank, thank you very much for taking the time to speak with Saddoboxing.com.
FW: “You’re quite welcome.”
Curtis McCormick can be reached at thomaspointrd@aol.com