By Terence Dooley
Frank Warren brings championship boxing to Upton Park, London on the 15th of May when Kevin Mitchell fights Michael Katsidis for the interim WBO lightweight title. Mitchell earned this marquee fight by defusing Breidis Prescott for the WBO Inter-Continental title back in December; Mitchell has since consolidated at the weight by knocking out Columbia’s Ignacio Mendoza in February. Warren confirmed that ticket sales are going well and the promoter believes that this type of event will be a shot in the arm for British boxing, as well as giving his own promotional outfit a boost.
“It is an event,” said Warren when asked about the big outdoor show. “Hopefully, we can get this one out of the way and be more active as promoters, it has been a bad twelve months in relation to the amount of shows we’d usually promote but that is all going to change after this show.”
Indeed, we recently reported that boxing has been suffering across the board here in the UK with the recession clamping down on the entertainment pound. “I think it is tough and the demise of Setanta was a big blow,” declared the promoter when asked about the current climate.
The big promotional firms have a deluge of fighters on their books yet they only have a certain number of TV slots; other promoters want to host small hall shows but need fighters to fill the bills; could the likes of Warren, Mick Hennessy, Frank Maloney, and Matchroom benefit from farming out some of their fighters to the small hall guys?
“I’ve got no problem with that”, answered Warren, who allowed local promoter Wally Dixon the use of some of his fighters in 2007. “I want to keep everyone as active as I can, it is good for fighters to be fighting, providing they will fight for the purses these guys put out. Some deals were done in better climates and if you do a deal you’ve got to stick to it but in this day and age there are some fighters who don’t get nowhere near the money they got a couple of years ago, it is how it is. That is the same for people in all walks of life. The economy is in a crap state and it has an effect on boxing.”
Nonetheless, Warren feels that he will be able to meet the economic crisis head-on in coming seasons. “I think that as far as the talent I’m involved with, I’ve got the best crop of talent in about the last twenty years at least. There are some really good youngsters coming through and they’ll be capitalising on their talent in the next couple of years,” he predicted.
Mitchell, who has come to the fore at just the right time, represents Warren with a chance to bring home an interim title and line his man up for a big fight against the likes of Juan Manuel Marquez, the ‘full’ WBO champion, or Juan Diaz, who fights Marquez in Las Vegas on July the 10th. Warren, though, was left bitterly disappointed when Amir Khan left him earlier this year after he had guided the Bolton phenomenon to a world title and has moved swiftly to ensure that the likes of Mitchell are in secure deals.
“Kevin has signed a new contract with me,” he revealed. “With the Khan situation we talked about people not keeping their word but with Kevin, and all the guys, they’ve now signed a long-term deal with me and that is the way it is for me from now on. There are no more handshake deals, some people keep their word and some people don’t. You may as well put it down in writing and that way there will be no misunderstandings.”
Should Mitchell defeat Katsidis he will sit on the cusp of a tilt at the WBO strap against the winner of Marquez’s lightweight title rematch with ‘Baby Bull’, their first contest was voted 2009’s ‘Fight of the year’ by the BWAA and asked a lot of both men. Should Marquez, or Diaz, prove elusive then what about an all-British showdown between Mitchell and British 135lb boss John Murray?
“I think it could be done but he [Murray] needs promotion”, answered Warren, “nobody knows who he is, and I don’t mean that disrespectfully to him. He is a talent but he is a forgotten talent. My business is putting on big fights and big shows and that (a Marquez fight) would be a big seller.”
Warren has seen many people come and during his long career and he paused to reflect on what Jamie Moore and Kerry Kayes, who both left the sport behind this week, brought to boxing. “Jamie was a warrior and unfortunately he never got his shot, he waited too long and it was never delivered to him,” mused Warren. “Maybe he should have gone up in weight earlier, I don’t know, that is just my thought as an observer. Kerry Kayes is well respected by the fighters, both in his ways and methods of doing things - the fighters like him.”
Tickets for 'Hammer Time', priced at £30, £40, £50, £80, £150, £200 & £250, are available from:
West Ham Ticket Hotline: 0871 222 2700*
Website: www.whufc.com
See Tickets Ticket Hotline: 0871 2200 260*
Website: www.seetickets.com
Ticketmaster: 0844 847 2500*
Website: www.ticketmaster.co.uk
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