Is Frank Warren All There?

Frank Warren, oh dear oh dear.

With the whiff of bitterness still lingering in the air ever since Tony Bellew left his promotional outfit, this week Frank has come out shining. On the forehead that is, and accused Hearn and his top charge, Carl "The Cobra" Froch of avoiding... wait for it... Nathan "Can Man" Cleverly.

Sigh.

Not only this, but by getting up in Tony B's sh** in the build up to his biggest fight to date, says to me that he is a little vindictive. Tony left Warren because Frank ignored him, much like he is ignoring James Degale. To then start calling out his new promoter and saying Tony B turned down a rematch with Nathan is childish.

Of all the British fighters currently kicking around, for Frank to come out and say it is Nathan who wants the big fights and not any of the other 'top' British fighters, is riDONKulous. He even slagged off Froch's next opponent, a very strong and live one in Yuseeeeeeef (massiiiive) Mack.

What does he want Froch to do, take on a lion? The man is still putting himself in the firing line, staying active and pursuing big fights, and that's after 8 or 9 world-level rucks... on the bounce. Show me anyone outside of an unknown Tony B or Murat that Nathan has fought that matches up to Mack and I'll leave it. In fact, shouldn't Nathan be taking on Mack instead of Froch? He IS a light-heavy after all.

No, no, don't be silly emore, i hear you cry. Nathan has a real toughy next up against... err... who? Oh, Jesus... another drunk, ageing hag of a taxi driver.

I like Nathan C and respect what Warren has done for boxing over the years, but acting like Froch is dodging his fighter, and trying to unsettle Tony B is classless. Froch would wipe the floor with Nathan, he is at least one if not two levels above him. Nathan needs to get a new trainer, learn to think (move your head Nathan) when he is in a fight and not rely on instinct, speed and a chin, and fight decent fighters. Far, far more regularly. He is only 25, but, he is a 'champion'. So fight ranked opponents, boyo, or give up the belt.

OR! come on down to Super Middle if you can't get the Light Heavy fights, there's plenty of top names ready to ruck, maybe even Frochy boy once he's done facing the best. After all, Chad did it, Nathan.

Yoo-hoo.

Thoughts?

Emore (gonna be more)

I do agree and thought it was ridiculous to propose a fight between the two.

Despite the obvious gulf in class, Froch is finally getting some wider recognition and is wanting marquee fights (although I confess to not knowing much about his latest opponent), where is Cleverley in the public consciousness?

Although in fairness, the flipside of the argument is that Froch did a similar thing when he was calling out Calzaghe.

True but Froch was realistically wanting a fight with JC, and was in his division, and one or two fights from being on his radar. Nathan is five or six off a Froch fight, in another division and already has a name. A name that is getting less and less well known with each hag he fights, sadly.

Nathan needs to show improvement in the ring. The biggest shocker is how much trouble he has had getting rid of these hags he's been fighting. Especially when you consider he fights at a weight where people often fall over.

Check out his press latest conference...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go-27I5y38w

He gets asked what he's going to do different in the ring and he says nothing, and that he'll fight on instinct. AND, he says he'll see what his opponents going to do. Jesus, what the hell does that show in terms of development, Nathan?

That bit is about 20 minutes into the PC.

They say poets are like artists.....Their quality shines through and gets appreciated when they are dead!!

Why not give it a try?????

Lol, very good TRUSS, very good.

Thought you'd left anyway?

davidemore wrote:

What does he want Froch to do, take on a lion?

lol, made me chuckle that did.

Was funny watching BHop giving it back to Warren re using his name to promote Clev....

B-Hop knows.

Read an interesting article, in Boxing Monthly, about the olympic medalists. They asked a few promoters whether the Olympic medalists should turn pro now. Thought the differing opinions of Warren and Hearn (Barry), regarding Joshua, were quite interesting.

Hearn: "Some might make decent pros but the days of multi million pound signing on packages are gone. Anthony Ogogo might make a good pro, he's got the aggression and attitude. The obvious one is Anthony Joshua, but he'd need to be wrapped in cotton wool while he learns. I'd give him one more year in the amateurs. He's an amazing raw talent but he'd turn pro with a fanfar then his next 10 fights would be learning fights and that wouldn't go down well."

Warren: "It's a no brainer, they have to turn pro. But would I offer any of them the same deal I gave James Degale? Not a chance, those days are gone. Anthony Joshua, Luke Campbell, they're all good fighters. I think Joshua is the best heavyweight prospect out there, bar none. Any fight where he's been under the cosh he's shown his heart and dug deep to get the win. What's he going to learn from staying amateur to beat people he's already beaten again?"

Hmm, both sides have a point. Joshua should do one more year then turn pro, IMO. He's had what, 50 fights? That's not a lot, and he needs to learn some smarts for the pro's. I think he'll progress quicker if he signs up with a top trainer now, Robby boy for example, fights in the amateurs for a year and uses his old guy while on the road, and then turns to Rob and goes pro. He has a ton of time.

Barry speaking much more sense than Frank as per usual.

I think it shows how much better he understands how the fans will react to seeing Joshua knocking over bums for a while if he were to join now. By staying amateur and being introduced at a later date it allows him to join the pro ranks without the immediate glamour of the olympic and all of the scrutiny that would follow. As opposed to Warren who sees him as his next cash cow. Amusing that he has to have a dig at Degale.

Degale did cost Frank a ton of money and his attitude is so bad he must be awful to work with. Still, it's Degale who is sitting idle now, aye. Frank knows how to hold a grudge. What is happening with James Degale?

trottb wrote:I think it shows how much better he understands how the fans will react to seeing Joshua knocking over bums for a while if he were to join now. By staying amateur and being introduced at a later date it allows him to join the pro ranks without the immediate glamour of the olympic and all of the scrutiny that would follow. As opposed to Warren who sees him as his next cash cow. Amusing that he has to have a dig at Degale.

Classic Warren though. His Sun column is shocking, he'll simultanesouly big-up some tomato-can slapping hype-job in his own stable whilst laying into someone, anyone, who's left him for bigger and better things.

I think it comes through the Hearns is a genuine boxing fan, whereas Frank just see's it as a business nothing more.

It is embarrassing to watch or read when he claims that nobody will fight Cleverly because he is too dangerous. It seems like the mantra of the self fulling prophecy. Say it enough times and it will come true!!

it must be awful been a warren fighter, either complain about the level of opposition and get left out in the cold or fight a chump once every 3 months and go nowhere. with boxnation at his disposal and the rest of the promoters struggling getting tv time you would have thought he would have cashed in and banged shows out every 1-2 months, he does actually have a decent stable.

Warren is pretty bad these days.

I can only think of Burns as someone who has benefited being under his banner.

trottb wrote:Read an interesting article, in Boxing Monthly, about the olympic medalists. They asked a few promoters whether the Olympic medalists should turn pro now. Thought the differing opinions of Warren and Hearn (Barry), regarding Joshua, were quite interesting.

Hearn: "Some might make decent pros but the days of multi million pound signing on packages are gone. Anthony Ogogo might make a good pro, he's got the aggression and attitude. The obvious one is Anthony Joshua, but he'd need to be wrapped in cotton wool while he learns. I'd give him one more year in the amateurs. He's an amazing raw talent but he'd turn pro with a fanfar then his next 10 fights would be learning fights and that wouldn't go down well."

Warren: "It's a no brainer, they have to turn pro. But would I offer any of them the same deal I gave James Degale? Not a chance, those days are gone. Anthony Joshua, Luke Campbell, they're all good fighters. I think Joshua is the best heavyweight prospect out there, bar none. Any fight where he's been under the cosh he's shown his heart and dug deep to get the win. What's he going to learn from staying amateur to beat people he's already beaten again?"

I'm with Warren here. He has won a gold medal at the Olympics, where do you go from there?, the same place or lower. Any pro should take their first 10 fights slow and easy anyway.. I say if Joshua has ambitions to turn pro then he should get a good trainer and do it now, just because you turn pro it does not mean you don't learn and work your way up. It just means he will be learning young where its easier to make the adjustments and adapt. he is young so can get a good few easy fights under his belt to get him into it and gradually build him up.. who cares if people get impatient.. if it works and he starts to take on bigger names and whoop their ass they will soon forgive him.

Another year in the amateurs would not make any differance to Joshuas first ten fights. They are likely to be walkovers no matter what. Hes inexperienced though and obviously still learning and developing. Id weigh it up as whether he would learn more and develop more by staying in the amateur set up which is clearly good in Britain or by going pro. Im not sure one more year would make a huge differance either way and I think he would probably be better off cashing in on his Olympic success now and the interest and feel good factor that goes with it.

I think Hearn has a point though that expectations for a gold medalist will be high and the pressure for him to move quickly will be more intense. Not a great scenario for a guy who only took up boxing a few years ago.

eddyfightfan wrote:it must be awful been a warren fighter, either complain about the level of opposition and get left out in the cold or fight a chump once every 3 months and go nowhere. with boxnation at his disposal and the rest of the promoters struggling getting tv time you would have thought he would have cashed in and banged shows out every 1-2 months, he does actually have a decent stable.

That is the dream situation. We are lucky if they fight twice a year now!!

alma wrote:He'd learn more fighting decent amateurs for another year or so than he would fighting four tomato cans in his first year as a pro

Exactly. His light won't diminish much in 12 months and certainly not as much as it would if he rushed into the pros and buckled under the weight of pressure, losing to someone he shouldn't by being put in too soon.

tunes666 wrote:

I'm with Warren here. He has won a gold medal at the Olympics, where do you go from there?, the same place or lower. Any pro should take their first 10 fights slow and easy anyway.. I say if Joshua has ambitions to turn pro then he should get a good trainer and do it now, just because you turn pro it does not mean you don't learn and work your way up. It just means he will be learning young where its easier to make the adjustments and adapt. he is young so can get a good few easy fights under his belt to get him into it and gradually build him up.. who cares if people get impatient.. if it works and he starts to take on bigger names and whoop their ass they will soon forgive him.

I don't think that anyone would disagree with that, tunes. I think it's more of a case of, if you jump straight in now, when your stock is at it's peak, then there is a danger that your fan base will diminish due to unsatisfactory match making, especially with the recent Olympians (particularly Audley) failing to deliver. I just think that casual fans will be a lot more cynical with regards to the current crop and will not want to be so easily fooled again.

I agree with alma, The Italian is a world-class amateur and a few more fights with his type would be good for Joshua.