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Frank Warren (promoter)
Encyclopedia
Frank Darren Warren is an English
boxing
manager
and promoter.
, Warren trained as a solicitor
's clerk with J Tickle & Co on Southampton Row
in London.
who having just lost a fight and wanting a rematch, could not find a promoter. Warren agreed to become an unlicensed promoter, getting McLean a trainer who had worked with Chris Finnegan
, and made the rematch at the Rainbow Theatre
, Finsbury Park
.
Warren's first licensed show was held at the Bloomsbury Crest Hotel, in London in 1980, promoting two unknown United States
heavyweights. However, although he had arranged TV coverage, he was blocked from broadcasting the fight by the British Boxing Board of Control
rules preventing first-time from televising their first fights. However Warren was later given his first TV date with the BBC in a British light welterwight fight between London's champion Clinton McKenzie
and Coventry contender Steve Early
.
Warren soon became a leading figure in British boxing, and since has managed some of Britain's best boxers of the last twenty five years, including 'Prince' Naseem Hamed
, Nigel Benn
, Joe Calzaghe
, Ricky Hatton
and Amir Khan
.
Warren guided Hamed to become Britain's youngest ever world champion when he beat Steve Robinson to win the WBO Featherweight title at the Cardiff Arms Park
, Wales
, in 1995; he oversaw the ascent of Ricky Hatton to the IBF Light Welterweight Championship of the World after beating Kostya Tszyu in 2005; and has been with former IBF and WBO/WBC/WBA/Ring Magazine Super Middleweight Champion Joe Calzaghe throughout the majority of his 46 fight unbeaten career.
Warren signed the 2004 Olympic
Lightweight silver medallist Amir Khan
and after guiding him to be a world champion in 2009, but the two split in 2010. He continued this post-Olympic record by signing others after the 2008 Olympics
.
In December 2007, Warren was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame
and was inducted in June 2008.
, but having moved his promotions successfully around all of the UK television networks, he currently has a television deal with Sky Sports
.
After the loss of the dispute with Calzaghe, Sports Network Ltd was put into administration.
by an unknown assailant wearing a balaclava, who was never caught. A .22 bullet from a Luger pistol
missed Warren's heart by an inch, and he lost half a lung
and parts of his ribs. The former boxer, Terry Marsh
, who had become Warren's first world champion two years earlier, was accused of the shooting but acquitted by a jury.
Warren has admitted to have issued over 40 writ
s, mainly against newspaper
s over various negative comments, including winning a £10,000 payment against the Daily Mirror. Warren accepted £30,000 in libel damages against the Daily Record
newspaper in respect of false allegations that he dishonestly fixed the outcome of the fight between John Simpson and Derry Matthews in March 2007, alleging that Warren had met the fight referee the evening before the bout. As well as paying Warren damages and legal costs, the newspaper also published a full apology. Due to the amount of writs that has been issued in his career, the internet website Boxrec on its forums prevents his name from appearing in print and instead the word "allegedly" appears in place of his name.
Represented by solicitors Carter-Ruck
, in 2007 Warren secured apology and significant damages from publisher Random House
over defamatory comments in the book Ricky Hatton: The Hitman, My Story. Random House withdrew the book from sale.
. Beset by transport problems, he was about to raise additional finance until shot - he says the incident cost him £8million, as he was forced to sell it in 1996.
Warren has major share holdings in various hotel developments in Portugal
, and a share in one of New York
's top restaurants, the Michelin-starred
81, off Central Park
.
Warren also invested in Hertford Town FC.
, who is a good mate of mine, and I enjoyed it. Maybe people get pre-conceived views of who I am but I do enjoy myself and have my bit of fun. Ask anyone who really knows me and they’ll tell you that some of stuff that is said on the Internet doesn’t accurately describe me, but people have an opinion and are entitled to express it."
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
manager
Coach (sport)
In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...
and promoter.
Early life and early career
The son of a bookmakerBookmaker
A bookmaker, or bookie, is an organization or a person that takes bets on sporting and other events at agreed upon odds.- Range of events :...
, Warren trained as a solicitor
Solicitor
Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...
's clerk with J Tickle & Co on Southampton Row
Southampton Row
Southampton Row is major thoroughfare running northwest-southeast in Bloomsbury, Camden, central London, England. The road is designated as part of the A4200.- Location :To the north, Southampton Row adjoins the southeast corner of Russell Square...
in London.
Promoter
Warren was approached by his second-cousin Lenny McLeanLenny McLean
Leonard John "Lenny" McLean , also known as "The Guv'nor," was an East End of London bareknuckle fighter, bouncer, criminal and prisoner, author, businessman, bodyguard, enforcer, weightlifter, television presenter and actor, and has been referred to as "the hardest man in Britain".McLean's...
who having just lost a fight and wanting a rematch, could not find a promoter. Warren agreed to become an unlicensed promoter, getting McLean a trainer who had worked with Chris Finnegan
Chris Finnegan
Chris Finnegan MBE was an English professional boxer.-Early life:Finnegan was one of eight siblings born into an Anglo-Irish family; his father was from Liverpool and his mother from Newry, Northern Ireland. Finnegan always wore a Union Flag and a Shamrock on his boxing trunks to signify his joint...
, and made the rematch at the Rainbow Theatre
Rainbow Theatre (Finsbury Park)
The Rainbow Theatre is a Grade II*-listed building, in the Finsbury Park area of North London. Built as a cinema in 1930, it later became well known as a music venue and is now a Pentecostal church.-Cinema:...
, Finsbury Park
Finsbury Park, London
Finsbury Park is an area in north London, England which grew up around an important railway interchange at the junction of the London Boroughs of Islington, Haringey and Hackney...
.
Warren's first licensed show was held at the Bloomsbury Crest Hotel, in London in 1980, promoting two unknown United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
heavyweights. However, although he had arranged TV coverage, he was blocked from broadcasting the fight by the British Boxing Board of Control
British Boxing Board of Control
The British Boxing Board of Control is the governing body of professional boxing in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1929 from the old National Sporting Club and is headquartered in Cardiff.- Councils :...
rules preventing first-time from televising their first fights. However Warren was later given his first TV date with the BBC in a British light welterwight fight between London's champion Clinton McKenzie
Clinton McKenzie
Clinton McKenzie is a former professional boxer. He fought in the light welterweight division and became the British light welterweight title holder and lost to European title fights.-Background:...
and Coventry contender Steve Early
Steve Early
Steve Early is a professional boxer, who fought out of Coventry, England. Early started his career in 1977 with a TKO win over Kevin Sheehan....
.
Warren soon became a leading figure in British boxing, and since has managed some of Britain's best boxers of the last twenty five years, including 'Prince' Naseem Hamed
Naseem Hamed
Naseem Hamed is an English former professional boxer.He is the former WBO, WBC, IBF, & Lineal featherweight champion, and European bantamweight champion....
, Nigel Benn
Nigel Benn
Nigel Benn , known as "The Dark Destroyer", is a British former boxer who held world titles in the middleweight and super middleweight divisions....
, Joe Calzaghe
Joe Calzaghe
Joseph William Calzaghe, CBE, MBE is a Welsh former professional boxer. He is the former WBO, WBA, WBC, IBF, The Ring & British super middleweight champion and The Ring light heavyweight champion....
, Ricky Hatton
Ricky Hatton
Richard John Hatton MBE, more commonly known as Ricky "the Hitman" Hatton, , is a former British professional boxer, and currently a promoter....
and Amir Khan
Amir Khan (boxer)
Amir Iqbal Khan , is a British Pakistani professional boxer who is currently the unified WBA & IBF light welterweight champion....
.
Warren guided Hamed to become Britain's youngest ever world champion when he beat Steve Robinson to win the WBO Featherweight title at the Cardiff Arms Park
Cardiff Arms Park
Cardiff Arms Park , also known as The Arms Park, is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green, and is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. The Arms Park was host to the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1958, and hosted four games in the 1991 Rugby World...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, in 1995; he oversaw the ascent of Ricky Hatton to the IBF Light Welterweight Championship of the World after beating Kostya Tszyu in 2005; and has been with former IBF and WBO/WBC/WBA/Ring Magazine Super Middleweight Champion Joe Calzaghe throughout the majority of his 46 fight unbeaten career.
Warren signed the 2004 Olympic
Boxing at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Boxing at the 2004 Summer Olympics took place in the Peristeri Olympic Boxing Hall. The event was only open to men and bouts were contested over four rounds of two minutes each...
Lightweight silver medallist Amir Khan
Amir Khan (boxer)
Amir Iqbal Khan , is a British Pakistani professional boxer who is currently the unified WBA & IBF light welterweight champion....
and after guiding him to be a world champion in 2009, but the two split in 2010. He continued this post-Olympic record by signing others after the 2008 Olympics
Boxing at the 2008 Summer Olympics
The boxing program of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China was held at the Workers Indoor Arena.Medals were awarded in eleven events, with each event corresponding to a recognized weight division of male boxers...
.
In December 2007, Warren was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame
International Boxing Hall of Fame
The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame is located in Canastota, New York, United States, within driving distance from the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown and the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta...
and was inducted in June 2008.
Sports Network
Warren's major vehicles for promotion are Sports Network Ltd and Sports Network Europe, which employ 15 people, but rises up to 1,000 on the day of a big fight. In 1995 Warren signed an exclusive deal with the pay-TV operator British Sky BroadcastingBritish Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting Group plc is a satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with operations in the United Kingdom and the Ireland....
, but having moved his promotions successfully around all of the UK television networks, he currently has a television deal with Sky Sports
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...
.
After the loss of the dispute with Calzaghe, Sports Network Ltd was put into administration.
Shooting
On 30 November 1989, Warren was shot outside the Broadway Theatre in BarkingBarking
Barking is a suburban town in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, in East London, England. A retail and commercial centre situated in the west of the borough, it lies east of Charing Cross. Barking was in the historic county of Essex until it was absorbed by Greater London. The area is...
by an unknown assailant wearing a balaclava, who was never caught. A .22 bullet from a Luger pistol
Pistol
When distinguished as a subset of handguns, a pistol is a handgun with a chamber that is integral with the barrel, as opposed to a revolver, wherein the chamber is separate from the barrel as a revolving cylinder. Typically, pistols have an effective range of about 100 feet.-History:The pistol...
missed Warren's heart by an inch, and he lost half a lung
Lung
The lung is the essential respiration organ in many air-breathing animals, including most tetrapods, a few fish and a few snails. In mammals and the more complex life forms, the two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of the heart...
and parts of his ribs. The former boxer, Terry Marsh
Terry Marsh (boxer)
Terry Marsh is an English former professional boxer who was an undefeated world champion in the light welterweight division....
, who had become Warren's first world champion two years earlier, was accused of the shooting but acquitted by a jury.
Legal disputes
Warren won a case when pursued by HM Revenue and Customs but has lost two cases, one a £7.2m dispute with Don King which was settled, and later a dispute with Calzaghe. Warren later successfully sued the solicitor who acted in the King matter and won significant damages.Warren has admitted to have issued over 40 writ
Writ
In common law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court...
s, mainly against newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s over various negative comments, including winning a £10,000 payment against the Daily Mirror. Warren accepted £30,000 in libel damages against the Daily Record
Daily Record (Scotland)
The Daily Record is a Scottish tabloid newspaper based in Glasgow. It had been the best-selling daily paper in Scotland for many years with a paid circulation in August 2011 of 307,794 . It is now outsold by its arch-rival the Scottish Sun which in September 2010 had a circulation of 339,586 in...
newspaper in respect of false allegations that he dishonestly fixed the outcome of the fight between John Simpson and Derry Matthews in March 2007, alleging that Warren had met the fight referee the evening before the bout. As well as paying Warren damages and legal costs, the newspaper also published a full apology. Due to the amount of writs that has been issued in his career, the internet website Boxrec on its forums prevents his name from appearing in print and instead the word "allegedly" appears in place of his name.
Represented by solicitors Carter-Ruck
Carter-Ruck
Carter-Ruck is a British law firm founded by Peter Carter-Ruck.According to their website they specialise in libel, privacy, international law and commercial litigation....
, in 2007 Warren secured apology and significant damages from publisher Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
over defamatory comments in the book Ricky Hatton: The Hitman, My Story. Random House withdrew the book from sale.
Other interests
Warren was also the founder and owner of the London ArenaLondon Arena
The London Arena was an indoor arena and exhibition centre, on the Isle of Dogs, in East London, England...
. Beset by transport problems, he was about to raise additional finance until shot - he says the incident cost him £8million, as he was forced to sell it in 1996.
Warren has major share holdings in various hotel developments in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, and a share in one of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
's top restaurants, the Michelin-starred
Michelin Guide
The Michelin Guide is a series of annual guide books published by Michelin for over a dozen countries. The term normally refers to the Michelin Red Guide, the oldest and best-known European hotel and restaurant guide, which awards the Michelin stars...
81, off Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
.
Warren also invested in Hertford Town FC.
Notable television appearances
Warren appeared as himself in "Raging Pig", an episode of Operation Good Guys. Warren observed, "A few people have seen that show! It is funny, I read somewhere that someone had done a review on one of our videos and they asked why I’m such a miserable bastard - it goes to show that they don’t know me. Ask anyone who knows me; I’m a pretty outgoing person. Operation Good Guys was put together by Ray BurdisRay Burdis
Ray Burdis is an English actor, screenwriter, director and film producer.Burdis started acting at eleven years old when he trained at the Anna Scher Theatre in Islington...
, who is a good mate of mine, and I enjoyed it. Maybe people get pre-conceived views of who I am but I do enjoy myself and have my bit of fun. Ask anyone who really knows me and they’ll tell you that some of stuff that is said on the Internet doesn’t accurately describe me, but people have an opinion and are entitled to express it."