Frank Warren Signed For Itv

[J !]

enjoy the fight then mate, though i have to say i find it hard to shout for junior.

odious little man is still ****ing on about hatton instead of worrying about his own performances.

site i write for wanted me to interview him in the past, i cant bring myself to do it.

[J !]

from sporting life.

KHAN TO SPEARHEAD ITV RETURN
Amir Khan will lead British boxing back into terrestrial television when he makes his professional debut against David Bailey in Bolton later this month.

Khan's eagerly-awaited professional bow on July 16 will represent the start of a two-year, 20-fight deal agreed by promoter Frank Warren and ITV.

The network were sufficiently impressed with the 6.3million viewing figures that Khan's Olympic rematch with Mario Kindelan attracted in May.

And they will expect even bigger numbers when Warren's star names including Ricky Hatton, Joe Calzaghe and Scott Harrison fight in their prime-time Saturday night slots.

Warren said: "I feel the sport can now go from strength to strength and with so many new stars coming through, this is going to be a long-term plan.

"I am delighted to rejoin ITV where I spent 14 happy years delivering them the best fights in (Nigel) Benn, (Frank) Bruno and (Naseem) Hamed when the station was known as the home of British boxing.

"I am obviously sad to be leaving Sky after 10 years but I felt it was time for a change."

Warren had been in negotiations with interested parties for a number of months with his existing contract with Sky drawing to a close.

Clearly unhappy with the satellite channel's decision to move many fights to Friday nights, Warren's prospective turn back to terrestrial TV gained momentum.

Now he will relish the opportunity of building on the bigger platform provided for those star names like Khan and Hatton.

Warren added: "From ITV, I then spent 10 great years with Sky Sports and developed Ricky Hatton to public prominence through satellite television when many people said that it could not be done.

"We saw the huge potential of boxing on ITV when we promoted the Amir Khan-Mario Kindelan rematch in May and it delivered fantastic TV ratings that beat everything else that night and is the biggest Saturday night viewership this year.

"Just imagine what kind of figures exciting fighters like Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe will pull in."

ITV will broadcast Junior Witter's European light-welterweight title defence against Andreas Kotelnik live from Nottingham next Saturday.

But afterwards the network will enter into its exclusive deal with Warren - starting with the Khan fight on the undercard of Matt Skelton's British heavyweight title fight against Danny Williams.

Khan has been handed a decent test against the 24-year-old Bailey, who has won three of his seven professional fights and is trained and managed in London by Eugene Maloney.

Bailey, who is yet to be stopped in his career, is considered a decent test for Khan's eagerly-awaited professional debut in his home town.

Maloney said: "I am surprised they took this fight because he is a tough and durable kid.

"David has looked good in sparring and he certainly has not taken this fight to fall over. He has ordered 100 tickets and he has taken this fight to win it."