Frank Warren announces December 23rd as a historical night in boxing
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Events promoter Frank Warren recently announced his plan to make December 23 a ‘historical night in boxing’. Moreover, he added that fans were going to be surprised when they saw the boxers that will compete that day.
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Among the things Warren said was that some great British fighters will feature in the event too; therefore, people could be wondering whether Anthony Joshua has finally found his last ‘dance partner’ for the year.
Joshua’s promise to give fans three fights to watch before the year runs out is yet to be fulfilled, and his team’s efforts to get him Deontay Wilder or Francis Ngannou have so far seemed futile.
Though Wilder tried to reach out to the Brit publicly by telling him to make the much-expected contest a reality, Anthony Joshua has yet to reply.
Apart from a bout featuring Anthony Joshua, another contest that fans expected to hold in December was that featuring Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury. However, Tyson Fury is so wounded from his last competition that the match was postponed to February.
Frank Warren has now disclosed that fans will still have something to watch on December 23.
‘There’s gonna be a big night in December, and we’ll be announcing very soon,’ promised Warren. ‘It will be massive. You’re gonna love it. I can’t give you all the information at the moment, but everything’s going in the right direction for it to be a historical night in boxing.’
Furthermore, Warren said the fight night will feature boxers from around the world.
‘It’s gonna feature boxers from all over the world. You will be surprised by the names,’ continued Warren. There’s some great British fighters too.’
Whether he already has the fighters he will set up the event for or is just advertising to get their attention is not known yet.
Carl Froch attacks Matchroom Sports’ Eddie Hearn
Former super-middleweight champion Carl Froch attacked Matchroom Sports’ promoter Eddie Hearn’s indulgence in crossover fights, calling one of the promoter’s astounding ideas ‘a load of rubbish’.
In his opinion, Hearn should focus on professional fights and stop saying things like the following, which he said sometime this year about booking a fight between Wayne Rooney, a former Manchester United player, and Jake Paul, an influencer boxer.
‘After every big fight, especially with a YouTuber, sometimes Wayne Rooney will fire me a message. I’ve said to Wayne, who had a very limited amateur pedigree but could still fight, imagine the shape you’d get in [if you trained for a fight],’ Hearn had said.
‘I told him, Wayne Rooney against Jake Paul at Old Trafford, imagine that. I get asked the question all the time, if there were two footballers [who wanted to fight] – most footballers follow boxing and secretly they’d all love to have a go. Everyone thinks they can fight.’
Froch’s recent statement on this was, ‘I don’t know why Eddie Hearn is talking about Jake Paul versus Wayne Rooney, Rooney’s a football manager. I don’t like the way some boxing promoters are going down the route of crossover fights because a former football player versus a YouTuber is a load of rubbish and I don’t get it.
‘I don’t get why a proper promoter is talking up a match between Wayne Rooney and Jake Paul. But does that tell us something about the state of boxing at the minute? Would Wayne Rooney v Jake Paul be the biggest fight that Eddie Hearn can make at the minute?’
In his statement that angered Froch, Hearn had added, ‘The YouTube world mixing into boxing is a threat. Anything that is going to deliver numbers is a threat.
‘You have to remember that the people that make boxing happen and grow the sport are the broadcasters, so as long as there’s investment from them, the sport will continue to flourish.
‘When there’s something else that brings in numbers, any broadcaster is going to look at it. They don’t care that much or are as passionate as us about the sport, all they care about is the numbers.
‘The YouTubers boxing at events isn’t that dangerous because I don’t think any of them are dangerous enough to hurt anyone. Tommy Fury is a professional boxer, but he’s terrible.
‘He’s absolutely swam the channel, where he’s gone from making £40,000-£50,000 a fight, to making £5,000,000 a fight. I like to say, put it over there, it’s an entertainment format and we’re keeping the sport great over here.’
Hearn replied by telling him to shut up: ‘Oh shut up, Carl. Listen, Carl’s my friend, he’s a legend … I go on a football podcast and they ask me if any footballers could fight … and I say Wayne Rooney against Jake Paul. Next thing, that’s all over the internet.
‘So I’m sorry Carl that that [looks like] me trying to make the fight. Would I make the fight? Maybe. Am I trying to? Absolutely not. I know it’s some soundbites for Froch on Fighting, but no, there is no intent to make Wayne Rooney against Jake Paul.’
It is believed that Froch thought otherwise.
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