Frank Warren has dismissed reports that he is preparing to sign an agreement to work with DAZN upon the expiration of his contract with TNT Sports.
The promoter not only insists that those reports are inaccurate, but that discussions of that nature have never taken place with DAZN.
Having overseen Derek Chisora’s unexpected victory over Joe Joyce, he plans to speak to Turki Alalshikh before Israil Madrimov-Terence Crawford on August 3, which the Saudi Arabian power broker is responsible for delivering to Los Angeles.
The timing of the increasingly influential Alalshikh writing on social media, “Recently, I have become increasingly impressed with DAZN’s quality and with what they offer to us! I hope that one day DAZN will become the home for all combat sports, especially boxing and MMA”, will perhaps not have helped.
How relevant it is that the General Entertainment Authority, Queensberry and TNT Sports are working alongside DAZN and Sky Sports towards the fight on September 21 between Daniel Dubois and Anthony Joshua remains unclear.
“I don’t know where it’s come from,” Warren said to BoxingScene of the relevant story. “That’s not happened. That’s not happened. I don’t know where it’s come from.
“There’s no comment to make because I have a contract and I’m very happy working with a contract I’ve got with TNT, which has been good. Our shows have got better and better and they’ve been brilliant to work with. I’ve got a contract and if I have discussions with people, I’ll be abridging my contract.”
Warren was also asked about what Alalshikh had said about DAZN, and he responded: “I haven’t discussed it with him so I can’t really make a comment on it and [whether] that’s what he might feel.
“I’m doing this on a daily basis – this is what I do – and at the moment we are where we are and we’re happy. I don’t know what his views are. I’ve seen a quote, but when I see him [this] week when I’m out there we’ll have a chat and see – it’d be interesting to see what his feelings are and his views, and we’ll discuss them.”
