By Shaun Brown
Promoter Frank Warren was a happy man when Boxing Scene caught up with him earlier after getting a deal done for WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan to defend his title against Derry Mathews on February 13 in Liverpool.
Flanagan will be making his second defence after dismantling Diego Magdaleno inside two rounds last month in Manchester.
“I think it’s a great fight,” said Warren and was quite surprised at the long odds-on price of Flanagan in the early betting markets. Betting website Paddy Power have Flanagan as 1/7 favourite and Mathews at 4/1.
“They’re talking like he (Mathews) is going to sit on the floor or something! It will be a tough fight, a very tough fight. You know what, one guy’s already had an interim title which I think Kevin Mitchell is fighting for…
Warren interrupted himself and then revealed: “We offered Mitchell the (Flanagan) fight and he didn’t want to take it. Give Derry his due - ‘I want that, I’ll have that’ - it’s excellent.”
As reported on this website earlier this month https://www.boxingscene.com/terry-flanagan-derry-mathews-edges-one-step-closer--97980 the only stumbling block, it appeared, was where the fight between Manchester’s Flanagan and Liverpool’s Mathews would take place.
“I’m going to be really honest with you, I’d much rather we be in Manchester,” said Warren “He’s the champion, he deserves that but there’s all these shows going on in Manchester in the next three months and it sucks all the money out the market. We are running a business. Terry’s a professional and he understood that.”
With two world title fights on his next show on December 19 in Manchester and having had two on his card on October 10, also in Manchester, Warren told Boxing Scene that he hopes to add a world title fight to the February 13 show in Liverpool.
“I’m also trying to put Jamie Cox and Blackledge on that show in Liverpool.”
Now that 2015 is drawing to a close Warren divulged a bit of information to ‘Scene about some of his thoughts and plans for a few of his fighters in 2016.
“I’m hoping Billy Joe Saunders will come through (against Andy Lee on December 19) and he’ll be out again in March.
“I’ve got Mitchell Smith in a quite big fight and controversial fight but he’s got to beat [George] Jupp (on December 19).
“Frank Buglioni will, I think, go up to light heavyweight. That’s my opinion, it’s not confirmed but we’ll see what happens. If you look at him he’s a big fella, a big lad and he trains like you can’t believe. Making the weight takes it out of him so we’re going to look at that light heavyweight situation.
“We’ve got quite a few things lined up for the first quarter and some exciting news. We’re going to announcing something quite interesting in the next few weeks.
“We’re pleased," he continued. "Boxing’s on a high, There’s never been so much boxing on TV, there’s never been so many British world champions so it’s fantastic and there’s many more to come through. British boxing’s in good shape and I’m pleased what we do here as promoters and what Boxnation does has made a substantial contribution to it.”
And as Britain and the boxing world counts down the days to the highly anticipated super bantamweight unification between Carl Frampton and Scott Quigg on February 27, a cross-promotion between Cyclone Promotions and Matchroom Boxing – Warren told ‘Scene that he is more than happy to be involved in something similar to get the big fights made.
“I tried to make the fight with Mitchell and Flanagan and he (Mitchell) chose not to take it. He didn’t choose to fight for a world title, he chose to fight for an interim title that tells you all you need to know.
“I’m always looking to make big fights. If the deal stacks up, it stacks up. I’ve always said I want to make the fights the fans want to see and in an ideal world promote them. On the other side Matchroom say the fights will only happen if they’re on Sky. That’s not in the fans interest.”
Shaun Brown is Boxing Scene’s UK Editor. Follow him on Twitter @sbrown2pt0 or contact him at sbrownboxing@gmail.com
