SPECULATION might be mounting that DAZN are looking to buy BT Sport. But promoter Frank Warren is relaxed. While DAZN is the home of Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing stable, Warren’s Queensberry Promotions are aligned with BT Sport. Should the two broadcasters merge, that could be a problem. But Warren tells Boxing News: “Who knows what can happen if it’s DAZN or someone else, it doesn’t make what happens. At the end of the day, Queensberry and I have an exclusive contract so no other boxing goes on BT, whoever buys it. The whole thing’s irrelevant to me.
“Even if that [takeover] did happen, who’s stable would you want?”
Warren is the UK promoter of Tyson Fury and also represents rising heavyweights Joe Joyce and Daniel Dubois. Joyce is well placed for a shot at the WBO belt, one of the straps Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua are expected to contest in a rematch. Dubois could be out again in December of this year. Warren has also confirmed the all-British light-heavyweight clash between Lyndon Arthur and Anthony Yarde for December 4 at the Copper Box Arena in London.
“We set out to have the number one heavyweight and we’ve got the best stable of boxers, I don’t care what anyone says, the best youngsters, we’ve got two heavyweights who are both ranked number one in their respective [sanctioning bodies]. So we’re in good shape. BT are in good shape. The Canelo fight’s coming on [BT Sport Box Office]. That’s where we are,” Warren said.
“I just continually work away. It’s cycles. Sometimes you’re up, sometimes you’re down. I mean the other side in the last few weeks have got a few problems, haven’t they? Joshua’s [lost and Mikey] Garcia got beat out there. That’s what happens. They lost Canelo, he’s gone off. [Alvarez’s next fight will be a pay-per-view on Showtime in the US and BT Sport.] That happens. It’s how you deal with it, how you come back and how you work. I’ve been doing this for a long time, been there, seen it, done it. What we’re good at doing is building and building and building and focusing. We don’t just sign a fighter and say, ‘Oh, this is it.’ We get behind it, we have a roadmap and our roadmap when we sat down with BT, I said to them three to four years you’ll have the number one heavyweight and we will have the best stable of British fighters. And we have.”
