Frank Warren slams promoter rival Eddie Hearn and blames his motormouth on Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua fight collapse
FRANK WARREN reckons Eddie Hearn’s motormouth contributed to the Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury super-fight turning into a car crash. AJ’s Matchroom promoter was the relentless driving force behind the very-public plans to make the biggest fight in British boxing history in Saudi Arabia this summer. But the five-month long saga went up on Smoke […]
FRANK WARREN reckons Eddie Hearn’s motormouth contributed to the Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury super-fight turning into a car crash.
AJ’s Matchroom promoter was the relentless driving force behind the very-public plans to make the biggest fight in British boxing history in Saudi Arabia this summer.
But the five-month long saga went up on Smoke last Monday when Deontay Wilder won an arbitration case that entitled him to a third fight with the Gypsy King.
Hearn is understandably gutted at the disaster and has blamed Warren, Fury’s UK promoter, and his US matchmaker Bob Arum for letting him believe the case was a formality.
But hall-of-famer Warren, who was labeled negative for his sober interviews in the build-up, reckons Hearn’s daily updates about the absolute 100 per cent certainty of the fight happening, annoyed US judge Daniel Weinstein.
He said: “At the start of the year, all parties involved in the fight – fighters, promoters, managers – all signed a contract as to how the negotiations would take place.
“In that agreement there was a clause that made it very clear there was an arbitration situation going on as far as Tyson is concerned – so everyone was aware of it and that we were awaiting the outcome of that.
“There was another clause in there regarding confidentiality and that we would make announcements together, so that we would all be on the same page.
“Within a very short space of time, Eddie Hearn breached that agreement by making announcements.
“Every week there was something, announcements about announcements, the fight is done and so forth.
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“That was totally untrue. The fight wasn’t done, it wasn’t signed and every time I did an interview I just said the truth.
“All these announcements, that were being made on a regular basis by Hearn, I don’t think helped and caused a lot of confusion.”
When AJ spent 18 months chasing former WBC king Wilder, to make him a four-belt king, Hearn regularly got frustrated with the American’s manager Shelly Finkel and hurled a few insults across the pond.
And Queensberry boss Warren wonders if that trash-talk also helped tip the heavyweight showdown in the bin.
‘I’M SURE HE WASN’T LOOKING TO DO HIM A FAVOUR’
He added: “Shelly Finkel and Al Haymon, who work with Wilder, were not interested in remuneration and said they wanted the fight.
“It probably didn’t help, all the disparaging remarks over the last couple of years Eddie Hearn has made about Shelly and all the names he has called him. I’m sure he wasn’t looking to do him a favour.”
Wilder, his financial backers and broadcasters would have been able to launch crippling legal action if the AJ and Fury clash went ahead.
But Warren claims AJ’s WBO mandatory challenger Oleksandr Usyk was preparing similar litigation, that was being covered up or ignored.
He said: “Usyk had written to the WBO – and subsequently all parties concerned – saying that they will be suing if the fight goes ahead.
“So even if we had won the arbitration we would still be sued by Usyk. There would have been an action and they would have been looking for injunctions to stop it.
“So that wasn’t dealt with or brought to anybody’s attention. Pot, kettle and all that from Hearn.
“One minute he is telling everybody I’m not involved at all in the negotiations – and now it is my fault.”