Frank Warren Profile

Frank Warren is an English Hall of Fame promoter who runs Queensberry Promotions alongside his son Francis Warren.

Since 2016, Warren has worked with BT Sport and in 2020, he extended his deal to exclusively show fights on the broadcasting channel. Warren is also the founder of BoxNation.

Warren got his first TV break in the early 1980s with the BBC broadcasting a British light heavyweight bout between Clinton McKenzie and Steve Early before continuing his momentum to become the kingpin promoter in Britain during the 1990s.

His premium fighters included Joe Calzaghe, Chris Eubank, "Prince" Naseem Hamed and Ricky Hatton. The next generation of fighters in the 2000s were some of Team GB's most successful amateur fighters in Amir Khan, James DeGale, Billy Joe Saunders, George Groves and Frankie Gavin.

In 2020, Warren's stable consists of heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, two-division champion Carl Frampton, world title challenger Anthony Yarde and heavyweight prospect Daniel Dubois.

In 1989, Warren cheated death after a .22 bullet from a Luger pistol missed his heart by an inch - the ramifications saw him have half of his lung removed during an operation.

Unable to pay off his debts whilst recovering from the shooting, Warren's company went into liquidation. Warren later said in an interview the bullet cost him £14million.

Terry Marsh, Warren's first-ever world champion, was acquitted of any wrongdoing by the courts after originally being accused. Rival promoter Barry Hearn took full advantage of Warren's circumstances and took many clients from him, including Nigel Benn.

The pair eventually put their differences to one side and worked alongside Don King for Eubank vs. Benn in 1993. To this day Warren refuses to name the person who shot him despite claiming to know who did it.

Under the Queensberry Promotions banner, Warren worked with the most talented British fighter of all-time in Hamed. He would become the youngest world champion from the UK with victory over Welshman Steve Robinson in 1995 - two days after rock band Oasis released their album (What's the Story) Morning Glory.

They would continue to work together until 1998, where Hamed's contract with Warren expired following victory over Wayne McCullough.

Warren also represented Benn in the first phase of his career before working alongside Hearn and King to promote his rematch with Eubank.

In 2000, Warren brought boxing royalty over to Manchester from across the Atlantic in "Iron" Mike Tyson. The American heavyweight took on Julius Francis and flattened the Brit inside four minutes.

Warren had a hugely successful period with Calzaghe, who retired undefeated on 46-0. The Welshman first caught the public's eye with a dominant victory over a shot Eubank in 1992 to win the WBO super middleweight world title.

At 168-pounds, Calzaghe is the longest reigning world champion in the history of the sport to date with notable victories over Jeff Lacey and Mikel Kessler in his 21 successful world title defences.

Manchester's Hatton proved to be an instant fan favourite as soon as he turned professional and Warren knew it. Hatton would become one of the all-time best ticket sellers in UK history and together with Warren, the 'Hitman' unified the junior welterweight division with memorable wins over Kostya Tszyu and Carlos Maussa.

After conquering the 140-pound division, Hatton split with Warren to sign a three-fight deal with Dennis Hobson Promotions which saw him fight in America. 2004 Olympic silver-medalist Khan was the next big name to follow in the footsteps of idol Hatton by signing with Warren.

He became the third-youngest British world champion at 22 with a points victory over Andriy Kotelnik before retaining it by a first-round KO over Dmitriy Salita.

During his time with Warren, Khan became the posterboy of the new era in British boxing. An average audience of 6 to 7 million viewers would tune in to watch him fight on ITV while he also headlined four successful Sky Sports Box Office events.

His most memorable win under Warren is his 'Coming of Age' bout with Mexican legend Marco Antonio Barrera. Warren continued his pursuit in signing Olympic stars DeGale and Saunders, amateur standout Gavin and former ABA champion Groves in 2008.

DeGale and Groves - the two brightest prospects in British boxing at 168-pounds - were matched together in a memorable build-up with both trading verbal blows in reference to their bad blood in the amateur ranks.

Warren biggest success from the Team GB stable has been Saunders. He eventually left Warren after over a decade together and in the process won world titles at middleweight and super middleweight.

Fury, a fellow Gypsy fighter, is the biggest profile Warren has promoted in recent times. The promoter helped Fury get back into the ring after three years out and after overcoming Deontay Wilder in their heavyweight rematch in 2020, he is regarded as the best fighter in the world.

One of his bright hopes going forward is Dubois, who tasted his first defeat to Joe Joyce in 2020. The heavyweight - voted the Best Young Fighter of the Year in 2019 by the Boxing Writers' Club - is under the Queensberry banner until at least 2025.

In recent times, the biggest event he has co-promoted is alongside Top Rank's Bob Arum and PBC for the rematch between Wilder and Fury for the WBC heavyweight title at the MGM Grand.

The event is believed to have generated 1.2 million buys in America according to Arum, which is the biggest number since Lennox Lewis defeated "Iron" Mike in 2002 (1.95m buys).

Warren also delivered Josh Warrington a world title bout against Lee Selby at his beloved Elland Road - the home of Leeds United Football Club. It would end up being a sensational event, with the Kaiser Chiefs performing to 25,000 fans prior to Warrington's ring-walk.

Warrington would go on to become IBF world champion in front of the Leeds' faithful.

When people think of Calzaghe, they think of one performance which stands out from the rest of them, and that's against Jeff Lacey. Going into the unification bout in Manchester, Lacey was deemed as the favourite after being compared to having the power of "Iron" Mike at 168-pounds.

It ended up being a one-sided fight with Calzaghe delivering the most impressive win of his career to add the IBF title to his WBO strap.

Hatton - perhaps the most popular British fighter of all time - had the fight of his life in 2005 when he met Tszyu. Going into the contest, he was seen as an underdog due to his Australian opponent's dominance in previous fights.

Hatton overcame the odds by delivering a ruthless display to emerge victorious. Warren was also a part of "Prince" Naseem's American debut against Kevin Kelley, which aired exclusively on HBO in the United States.

The Madison Square Garden fight ended up becoming a slugfest with Hamed climbing up from the canvas twice on his way to retaining his WBO featherweight crown inside four rounds.

Elsewhere, Warren turned Khan into the Box Office star on Sky Sports, delivered the grudge match between DeGale and Groves and promoted Liam Smith's brave defeat to Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez in association with Golden Boy Promotions.

The latter bout took place in Texas and attracted some 50,000+ fans as well as doing half a million PPVs in America. He would also promote second-generation fighter Chris Eubank Jr's defeat to Saunders.

Alongside his son George, Warren owns and runs Queensberry Promotions and has worked with UK television giant BT Sport since 2017. In 2018, Warren promoted Fury's highly-anticipated comeback against Sefer Seferi at the Manchester Arena.

The bout, which ended inside four farcical rounds, had a peak audience of 814,000 on BT Sport - which was the highest boxing viewership figure for the subscription-based channel.

Warren has also promoted some memorable fights with Leeds' IBF champion Warrington. The featherweight defeated Selby at Elland Road before taking on Belfast's two-weight champion Frampton at the Manchester Arena.

The domestic battle was a 2018 Fight of the Year contender and featured on BT Sport Box Office on the same night as Dillian Whyte's rematch with Derek Chisora on Sky Sports PPV.

Fury vs Wilder 1 and 2 also featured on BT Sports Box Office, with Fury creating iconic moments in both, including a dramatic final round in the first bout to beat the 10-count against the 'Bronze Bomber'.

Warren and Queensbury Promotions work with Top Rank CEO and founder Arum in America. The pair promote Fury across both sides of the Atlantic, which has included each bout against Wilder.

The rematch was a co-promotion between ESPN and FOX in the States and got distributed on their respective pay-per-view channels.

Warren's company has worked with sports broadcaster ESPN since 2018, which exclusively broadcasts most of Warren's cards in the UK on ESPN+, which boasts 8.5 million subscribers.

Arum's Top Rank agreed a seven-year deal to exclusively promote on ESPN, it includes 54 live shows a year and American rights to stream 24 international cards on ESPN+.

Frampton - who linked up with Warren after a messy split from Barry McGuigan's Cyclone Promotions - is a prime example of a fighter which works with both Warren and Arum.

The pair dictate whether the 'Jackal' fights in the UK or US. Frampton will get the chance to become Ireland's first three-division champion against Jemal Herring in 2021 with the location expected to be London.

The first Warren card to have featured on the sports platform was the domestic battle between Jack Catterall and Ohara Davies, which had double Olympic champion Nicola Adams on the undercard in 2018.

Warren and Arum have a good relationship and even meet up outside of work for social occasions in London and New York. Mayfair Club is said to be a favourite of Arum's when he visits the English capital.

They are in competition with fellow promoter Eddie Hearn, son of Barry Hearn, who is managing director at Matchroom Boxing and promotes heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua on Sky Sports and DAZN.

According to Companies House, on March 31, 2017, Warren's Queensberry Promotions' retained earnings for the previous 12 months was over £10million. Warren had a big contribution in securing Fury his lucrative deal with Arum's Top Rank.

The "Gypsy King" signed a five-fight deal reportedly worth £72million and demonstrated why he was paid so much with revenue gate receipts of £13million for his rematch against Wilder at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in 2020.

Other notable deals include his TV deal with BT Sport, which started in 2017 alongside BoxNation. Warren became the first person to create a TV network specifically for boxing in 2011 with BoxNation, which saw him end his affiliation with Sky Sports, which had seen him secure eight-figure contracts in the past.

Warren has two sons, Francis and George. George is the current CEO of Queensberry Promotions, while Francis is also involved in the company. Warren has a brother and a sister, called Robert and Christine.

His youngest brother Mark died in July 2010 due to drug addiction, something he has openly spoken about in previous interviews and compared to Fury's mental health struggles.

Warren currently resides in Hertfordshire with his second spouse Susan.