Frank Maloney: I'm Sickened By Haye vs. Chisora Bout

By Edward Chaykovsky

Promoter Frank Maloney is not backing Frank Warren's decision to stage the heavyweight fight between Dereck Chisora and David Haye at Upton Park in West Ham.

Maloney doesn't agree with Warren's decision to defy the British Boxing Board of Control. Haye and Chisora are not licensed by the British Board. Warren secured the services of the Luxembourg Boxing Federation to license the boxers and sanction the show.

Haye-Chisora, financially, is a big success. Over 20,000 tickets have been sold for the show.

"I am sickened by it," Maloney told The Independent. "I am a traditionalist. I would never have thought about doing anything like this. It is a nail in boxing's coffin.

"The British Board needs to be protected, possibly by the Government in this instance, because the sport must be kept under control. This fight will give boxing's opponents more ammunition to marginalise it. Do these fighters deserve such a big payday after the way they have behaved in Munich? If they hadn't had that brawl, no one would be talking about them, they are yesterday's men. To draw attention to themselves they have had to cause a night of shame and bring boxing into disrepute.

"One of the things wrong with modern boxing is that it's not about building fighters, it's about doing stunts for TV," he added. "Let's be honest, this fight will help sell BoxNation [the new Frank Warren-backed subscription channel] but I wouldn't buy it out of principle."