Haye, hatton, calzaghe, froch. All the main guys aren't with warren, where do you think his standing will be in 5 years.
well in 5 years time all of them fighters will most likely be retired. I think he will be the main promoter, but it depends on the future of his olympic trio and amir khan.
Well Calzaghe and Hatton stayed with him long enough, so i expect khan to be with warren in 5 years time.
Early this year it looked as though Warren was cleaning out his stable. He's picked up some decent young talent, namely in Cleverley, so may be he's looking to pad out a few more records and build some big reputations with young talent around. With more and more boxers and ex boxers getting involved in promotion though I can only see their respective vehicles becoming stronger and stronger. Mostly because they will deliver the fights that their fighters and the public wants. Drum up more public interest by putting on great shows and you drum up more cash. I genuinely see the next few years turning full circle. Moving away from 30-0 fighters towards genuine challenges for boxers. It's nice and safe for a promoter to build someone's record and market him as the next big thing, but more money can be made by putting on entertaining shows. Look at the elite over 2007 and 2008, big fights were made. Yeah some were missed too but not nearly as many as over the last 10 years. Couple that with a boxers mentality in the board room and the future looks rosy. This should then trickle down to grass roots level. As soon as people are no longer scared of losing the '0' because of the fear they wont get on Sky Sports, the better for boxing!
I think he will probably be on a par with somebody else. He will be the leading 'individual' promoter - all the others seem happy to work together - Hayemaker and Gilmour have recently done business, Hearn and Gilmour do business all the time, Hatton and Calzaghe will most likely be promoting together and with Maloney and Big Mick as well. Warren, with his 'connections' at the WBO will always be able to entice the fighters with a willingness to board the gravy train, keep their trap shut and earn a decent living, and for that he is excellent. His biggest sticking point is when fighters become big names - he is completely CLUELESS. By big name I don't mean Lockett, Maccarinelli etc, I mean Hatton/Calzaghe, guys that are marketable across the pond.
I don't think so - nurturing amateur talent is much more difficult than it was say in 1989 when Lennox turned pro, or even 1997 when Hatton did. The respective versions aren't even alike anymore at all - never mind strikingly similar. Saunders is the one with the most natural pro style, with his bodyshots etc, then probably Gavin, a cagey counterpunching southpaw, then DeGale - who is like Junior Witter stylewise but even more of an arsehole. I think George Groves and Sutherland are better prospects than any of those - a fact that will be proven in time. Would like to see Kenny Egan turn pro as well.........
I think it has a lot to do with how these current olympians do and if he can sign some young olympians in 4 years... If Hennessey or Hobson signed DeGale, BJ and Gavin SN would pretty much extinct - who would they have to carry to Warren torch on the world level, Nick Cook...? Hennesey does things the traditional way, which us boxing fans like but in modern boxing I dont think it is the way to go, he doesnt have a large stable and the world class talent he does have in Froch and Witter wont be around for long. it also seems to take him ages to get his fighters anywhere. Though I prefer his attitude to Warrens. Haye has done very well in a short amount of time, in fact he has pretty much accomplished what Hennesey has accomplished even though he is a fighter as well. SportsNetwork will be struggling in 5 yrs, with Hennesey, Hobson, Haye, Hatton, GBP, and Calzaghe all pissing on Frank Warrens cornflakes.
I was just flicking through some stuff on Boxrec and caught a glance of the card from the Joe Calzaghe Richie Woodhall fight, eight years ago tomorrow. Sheffield Arena, Sheffield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom Mauricio Martinez W Esham Pickering TKO 1 - Pickering was a domestic level fighter who got a chance but didn't step up. Daniel Santos W Neil Sinclair KO 2 - Very much like Pickering Sinclair was a domestic fighter who was stepping up but didn't take his chance. However, Sinclair was a chinny banger IIRC and thus possibly worth getting a title shot as early as possible. Paul Ingle L Mbulelo Botile TKO 12 - Obviously a tragic fight but a geniune world title match between Ingle, one of the top five in the world at the time, and Botile, a class act who had won world titles at bantamweight. Joe Calzaghe W Richie Woodhall TKO 10 - Geniune world level fight, two top fighters, decent match. Bruce Scott W John Keaton KO 6 - IIRC, a good undercard scrap. Acelino Freitas W Daniel Alicea TKO 1 - Obviously not a good match-up but Freitas was a world level fighter and was being showcased as a potential opponent for Hamed and piossibly Ingle at this point. Marlon Hayes W Ojay Abrahams PTS 6 Ryan Rhodes W Howard Clarke PTS 6 Stephen Oates W Chris Jickells PTS 4 Scott Miller W Jason White PTS 4 Louis Swales D Jason Collins PTS 4 The rest of the card is pretty standard undercard fare. Could anyone imagine a SN card that good now? I don't think there is any chance of it. Look at, for example, the Khan-Prescott card - the headline act is two prospects, Arthur-Cook is a world title fight but between two fighters who, being brutally honest, couldn't be classed as true 'world level' fighters and Audley Harrison-George Arias, a delusional hasbeen/neverwas against a tubby cruiserweight. The rest of the card is prospects v tin cans with losing records witha few 'international' level fights thrown in. This was a PPV card as well, the Calzaghe-Woodhall fight was on regular Sky! Due to the rise of Hennessy, Hayemaker, Goldenboy etc Warren can't have it all his own way. Also, the fact that ITV and Setanta have money to spend on boxing boosts opportunities for his rivals to get in on the act, unlike in the 1990s, early 2000s when Sky was the only show in town. Hopefully what this means is that increased competition will improve the product for the fans. What we need is competitive fights between good fighters. Hayemaker's card matching Martin Lindsay and Paul Appleby is a great example - I don't think that fight would hav been made by SN. I lost a bit of interest in boxing for a few years but remember back in the days of the britishboxing.com forum the big rivalry between Wayne Alexander and Anthony Farnell, or at least their fans - they were obviously both domestic, European fighters but were never matched. I'd hope that these days a fight like that would be made.
I'm absolutely convinced Khan will be retired in 5 years time. He'll be exposed a couple of times more once he steps up from fighting cherry picked opponents again and once he realises the dream is in tatters he'll probably go into punditry. I honestly can't see him going the journeyman / domestic route and his popularity and affable demeanour should place him in some demand with the media. Although there's the chance Frank manouvres him into a fight for the vacant WBU and he milks that for years! With regard to the affable demeanour his ego is in danger of getting out of control IMO. It's a shame as he seemed genuinely likeable in the amateur days, but old Frankie seems to have him deluded! Oh and more to the point I don't think Warren will be the No. 1 promoter in 5 years time although if he changed his approach and put his fighters in with live opponents more regularly then there's nothing to stop him. He has a track record of making his fighters money and he has plenty of that to snap up the premium signings.
Hennessy and ITV need to strike while the iron is hot following the success of the Froch fight which was made for TV. Hope plenty watched it and caught the bug we all have. A few more well put together bills (not just fights) and they could really make some noise. Who else does Hennessy have who would provide these fights though? On a World title level I'm not sure. For all I respect Witter his fights tend to be dull as dishwater if he doesn't blow them out in a couple rounds anmd he's nearing the end of the road. Maybe get Froch topping the bills then put on good, solid British, Euro and even area title fights. If he starts making some noise on ITV the more established pros will take notice and some of Warrens up and coming talents may jump ship.
