Frank Warren warns fans to beware of “cheap imitations” as PPV choice looms

Frank Warren has warned fight fans to be wary of a cheap boxing Christmas knock-off this weekend.

The promoter puts on a pay-per-view show on BT Sport on the same night as his main rival Eddie Hearn runs a PPV card on Sky Sports.

Having announced his date first, Warren has reacted furiously to the fact Matchroom are running a show at the same time and has taken numerous swipes, claiming he would never create a clash and chiding Hearn for reducing everyone’s earning potential.

Most predict that the Dillian Whyte v Dereck Chisora heavyweight grudge rematch will sell many multiples of what Josh Warrington’s IBF featherweight title defence versus Belfast’s Carl Frampton will shift – with platform, weight class, and notoriety all being cited. Indeed, Hearn himself believes they could out-sell the Warren show at a ratio of 20-to-1.

However, the Queensbury boss takes solace in the fact he is promoting the ‘real fight’ rather than a ‘recycled cheap imitation’ and has urged fans to watch what he bills as a 50/50 world title fight between his boxers rather than a ‘good domestic fight’ between Whyte and Chisora.

“You know what happens at Christmas – you have to be aware of cheap imitations, you’ve got to be out there and buy the real one. This is the real fight and these guys are the best,” Warren told TalkSport this morning as he launched his latest verbal broadside.

Taking aim at his competition – a rematch of what was a 2016 Fight of the Year contender – the London fight boss argued that “this is not a recycled fight.”

“You know Dereck Chisora, I think he has won one of his eight meaningful fights and Dillian Whyte got knocked out in seven rounds by Anthony Joshua. It’s a good domestic fight, but that’s what it is. It isn’t pay-per-view.”

The bookies have ‘The Jackal’ as a narrowing favourite going into the Manchester Arena-hosted IBF featherweight world title fight this coming Saturday, but Warren, who some believe would prefer a Warrington win, argues that it’s a real pick’em fight.

“Everybody has got an opinion on it; it’s a real 50/50 fight.”

“I mean it’s two guys at the top of their game, they are both excellent fighters. They’re probably in the top four fighters in the world in their weight division,” Warren added before continuing the sales pitch.

“It is a great fight, these fights come along very few and far between when guys at their best are fighting each other. We are in for a cracker on BT Box Office tomorrow.”

“Carl is just over 30 but he has a lot of gas left in the tank and Josh is coming through. In his last fight he beat Lee Selby, who a lot of boxing writers felt was the pound for pound best fighter in Britain; he done a job on him, really took him apart.

“So this has all the ingredients of a great fight – they’re both on it, both in great condition, they were at the press conference on Wednesday and they are really up for it. It’s a big moment for both.”