By Terence Dooley
Frank Warren cut to the chase on Saturday afternoon by exclusively revealing to BoxingScene the exact purse offer he made to Scott Quigg for a September showdown with Carl Frampton. Warren sent an email through to Eddie Hearn, Quigg’s promoter, on Thursday. It was confirmed by Hearn during a conversation with me later that evening and also by the fighter himself, who discussed and dismissed the offer earlier today.
Hearn and Quigg have both insisted that the offer was sent to gain exposure for Warren and Frampton, a claim that Warren’s Boxing Manager Andy Ayling denied during an interview on Friday. Ayling cited the promoter’s weekly column in The Sun as an indication that he does not have to resort to publicity stunts. This argument was reiterated by Warren during today’s conversation.
“I offered £200,000 for him (Quigg) to fight Frampton, and I don’t need the exposure,” revealed Warren when speaking to BoxingScene. “I rang [Quigg’s trainer] Joe Gallagher when I first heard that Scott wasn’t under contract with Hatton Promotions. I rang to offer the 200 grand and the following day, or the day after, Quigg signed with Matchroom. All I’m interested in is putting on proper fights. That’s why I offered 2.5 million quid for [Carl] Froch to fight [Nathan] Cleverly. On top of that, no one understands what we’re doing at BoxNation. We are our own investment, just so everyone understands that. We don’t rely on Sky’s money.
“I am in this for the long-term. I’m not interested in standing around telling everyone how good I am. I’ve always been in the game to do what I’ve always done, making the best fights and putting fighters in against each other. Look at the fights I’ve made over the past years: I put [Tony] Bellew in with [Nathan] Cleverly, I put [Dereck] Chisora [who he manages] in with [David] Haye and we’ve done various other fights over the past years, all of them proper fights. None of this crap of running away from fights.”
Like Ayling, Warren took issue with the idea that Barry McGuigan should not be allowed to manage Frampton as well as co-promoting his bouts. With the fighter himself the chief co-promoter a conflict on interest is likely to be staved off. Indeed, Warren argued that the situation with McGuigan and Frampton is similar to relationship between David Haye and his trainer, manager and co-promoter Adam Booth, who work very closely together and have recently signed a deal with Matchroom.
“Also he mentioned that Barry Mcguigan shouldn’t be the promoter, so why’s he working with David Haye and Adam Booth to promote David, what’s the difference between that and Barry?” he asked.
The give-and-take between the promotional outfits has become a massive topic of conversation, but the chief fear for boxing fans in general is that the promotional and TV impasse will prevent major fights from taking place in the coming years. Warren, though, insists that he has a history of allowing his fighters to appear on other networks, notably when Chisora fought Tyson Fury on Channel 5 not to mention Paul Smith’s forthcoming vacant British Super middleweight title showdown with Tony Dodson on Matchroom’s June 29th Bolton bill.
“My fighters have fought on Sky,” he said. “Hearn’s on record saying his boxers will not fight on BoxNation. I don’t want a slagging match with Eddie — I don’t think about Eddie Hearn. All I’m interested in is Frampton against Quigg. I was interested in Froch Vs Cleverly, which is obviously not going to happen, but why stop Quigg and Frampton?”
When speaking about the fight earlier today, Quigg dismissed Warren’s offer outright. He said: “I find it laughable to be honest because they were trying to sign me and knocking on my door before. I’m not in the Carl Frampton business. My career isn’t based on beating him — it is about becoming world champion. The public want it, and we want it, but why change direction from a world title for him when I came into the sport to become a world champion?
He added: “The purse bids have been called for me and Yoandris Salinas [for the regular WBA title], so why turn down the full title when I believe I can beat this kid to fight for the European title [held by Frampton]? Where’s the sense in that? If Barry can get a shot at the IBF, which he said he could do five-months ago in an article where they said they don’t need me, then why not do it (get the IBF title fight)? I’m concentrating on myself. I am positive I can get the title then bring Frampton to the table.”
“How can he not be interested in the fight, how can that be?” asked Warren when told that the Bury-based boxer is eyeing the full WBA crown. “That tells me all you need to know about Scott Quigg, so we’ll move on. I’ve been in this game for a long time and if a fighter’s not interested in making 200 grand then what does that say? He might think he’ll lose to Frampton. Let me tell you this, getting beat is not the end of the world. Plenty of fighters got beat and come back, but that tells you where he’s at in his heart. Two hundred thousand pounds, that’s a lot of money for a fight that isn’t a world title fight. Time always tells with people. I just wanted people to know how much we’d put in for it.”
Scott Quigg and Joe Gallagher’s interviews on the move to Matchroom and Quigg’s world title future will follow shortly. Then we’ll draw a line under this Super bantamweight battle until one, or ideally both, boxers are amongst the world titles with the winner meeting Guillermo Rigondeaux. Simple, ain’t it? And people say this matchmaking malarkey is a hard game.
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