Frank Warren is not one bit happy about the fact that boxing fans will have to pick between Josh Warrington vs. Carl Frampton and Dillian Whyte vs. Dereck Chisora II.
At the beginning of this month, Matchroom Boxing and Sky Sports Box Office announced that they had put together a rematch of heavyweight rivals, Whyte and Chisora, and scheduled it for December 22 at London’s O2 Arena.
The only problem with that date is that it coincides with Warrington’s IBF featherweight title defence against Frampton in Manchester, which will be broadcast by BT Sport Box Office.
It’s a classic case of one promoter trying to hinder the viewership of another and while it’s nothing new in combat sports, Warren has slammed Eddie Hearn for playing that card.
Writing in his Metro column, Warren said: “Speaking of Whyte and Chisora, I was incredibly disappointed to see Matchroom announce their rematch on the same night as Josh Warrington vs. Carl Frampton on Box Office. It’s ridiculous, it really is.
“It’s disrespectful to the fans. Manchester City and Manchester United don’t play at the same time in the Premier League, do they? It’s a stupid situation and I can’t see who wins out of this.
“You just split an audience, and the boxers will lose out on pay-per-view buys. That’s a major loss for all four boxers involved.
“What we have in Warrington v Frampton is a clash between two of the very best in the world at their weight class and that is really becoming our mantra with PPV on BT Sport Box Office. What we’re not about is putting second tier, inconsequential fights on PPV for the sake of it.
“It is disrespectful to Josh and Carl and, to a certain extent, Whyte and Chisora, who are being used. While Whyte-Chisora is a decent fight, Sky customers need to ask what they are getting for their subscriptions if this event is deemed to be PPV.
“It wasn’t so long ago that Hearn pledged to have a world title fight on regular Sky pretty much every week, but I believe the last male to fight for a world title on a UK show was over a year ago.
“Since we announced our deal with BT we have put on 12 world title fights, with half a dozen interims, with big stadium shows including Fury, Frampton and Warrington. All on linear subscription TV.”
