Frank Warren on Hatton/Mayweather and ITV returning to boxing.

[Guest]

Boxing promoter Frank Warren, who looks after, amongst others, Ricky Hatton, Joe Calzaghe, Amir Khan and Danny Williams, has a weekly column in Sunday tabloid The News of the World.

This week he writes about Tommy Hearns, David Haye and James Johnson vs. Ann Wolfe. But top of his list is his new ITV deal, followed by Hatton/Mayweather...


On ITV (A major terrestial channel in the UK that used to show fights like Benn-McClennan, Eubank-Watson and Naseem Hamed at prime time):

"My boxers will be back on prime-time terrestial TV this month after I signed an exclusive deal with ITV.

And I hope we can recreate the golden era of the 1980s and early '90s.

Then, boxing was drawing TV audiences of 15 million-plus as the likes of Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank and Steve Collins became household names.

Viewing figures like that are a thing of the past because there are so many television channels these days but when Amir Khan fought Mario Kinderlan in May, 6.5m tuned in.

I'm confident that when Ricky Hatton, Scott Harrison, Joe Calzaghe, and Khan appear on Saturday nights on ITV, we'll achieve similar audiences or better.

The deal begins with a British heavyweight title fight between Danny Williams and Matt Skelton on July 16 - and Khan will make his pro debut on the undercard.

The week after, Alex Arthur takes on Boris Sinitsin for the European super-featherweight title in Edinburgh.

I'll be sad to leave Sky after 10 fantastic years with them and some amazing shows.

We pioneered pay-per-view with fights which included Frank Bruno, Mike Tyson and Naseem Hamed.

In the case of Hatton, it also proved you CAN make an 18-year-old prospect into a box-office star on satellite TV.

But, for me, the beginning of the end was when Sky shifted boxing to Friday nights to screen football on Saturdays.

I always thought boxing could be as big as football - now I'll get the chance to find out when the two sports go head-to-head."



On Hatton-Mayweather (A bout which Warren seems to sensibly want to build up... after all, both fighters have only just got out from under the radar...)

"Floyd Mayweather beat Arturo 'Thunder' Gatti last week to claim the WBC light-welterweight title and is now being hailed as the world's greatest pound-for-pound fighter.

But as good as his performance was, we won't even know if he is the best in the division until he fights Ricky Hatton.

Mayweather did look brilliant against Gatti but it wasn't hard.

I've never rated Gatti that highly and the Canadian was truly terrible against Mayweather.

Before the fight Mayweather pointed out that, while Thunder makes a lot of noise, it is lightning that strikes.

And last Saturday the only sound you could hear was the smack of leather in Gatti's face.

Now Mayweather is being linked to a fight with Hatton - but that won't happen until next year.

Let them clean up the division before meeting in a superfight in 2006."

[elveiel]

Sounds like Warren is suggesting that Hatton fights Cotto or Mauusa next, win some more belts and then take on Mayweather in 2006. I think Warren would like to take Maussa because of the problems with Vivian Harris, he'd love to take that WBA belt that Harris was so proud of(plus Warren knows an easy meal ticket when he see's one).

[Guest]

Yep. It may not be what everyone who is a boxing fan wants, but Warren's a businessman and it makes sound business sense on all levels.

[JUYJUY]

I think Mayweather may fight Cotto next!

[elveiel]

I've always said Warrens a very clever business man, he basically controls british boxing and its one of the only situations where a monopoly of something works very well. Imagine if Hatton had of been fighting under Barry Hearns, who IMO puts his fighters in with bums for a short time then throws them in a the deep end and hope they manage the huge step up, most of his fighters are ****ed before they have completed 20fights. Warren builds his fighters slowly and gets the best out of them, its very rare a a Warren fighter gets a beating at any level.

I'd like to see Hatton fight Cotto next, if he fights Maussa it will be ok but i'd prefer him to fight another quality opponent whilst waiting for Mayweather.