“They Didn’t Fire Us, We Fired Them” – Frank Warren Shoots Down Eddie Hearn’s Claims

Boxing promoter Frank Warren addressed Eddie Hearn’s claims that Warren was fired from British broadcasting sports channel Sky. In his book, Hearn stated that he convinced Sky to fire Frank Warren along with boxer turned promoter Ricky Hatton and Kellie Maloney. While talking to iFL TV, the British promoter cleared the air surrounding Hearn’s claims in his new book Relentless: 12 Rounds to Success.

“Somebody pointed out something in his book though. They showed me or sent me a photograph. It was about how he convinced Sky to get rid of Frank Maloney, Ricky Hatton, and myself. So that he took over boxing, which is totally untrue. It is a lie. We left Sky back in 2011 to start Box Nation and in fact, our first show was on September the thirtieth.”  

The founder of the Queensbury Promotions, Warren revealed that the inception of the boxing dedicated subscription platform in 2011 came months after he quit from Sky. Additionally, Warren who also acts as Tyson Fury‘s co-promoter revealed that he had almost a year left on his contract.

He added, “We did Bellew and Cleverley. Our contract was not going to end. I think we had like around nine months, might have been a year left on it, when we decided what we was doing. We walked away, we left. Didn’t do any more shows, so, he didn’t replace us. We’d gone. I think it’s very easy, look at the dates. He did his first show when they blew out Maloney and Ricky’s company. Look at the dates, it’s just totally untrue and inaccurate.”

Frank Warren clears the air on why he quit Sky

Shooting down claims made by Eddie Hearn, Warren told iFL TV that it was his personal decision to leave Sky rather than the other way around.

Frank Warren Promotions found Box Nation as a free-to-air subscription channel on Sky. The first major event which took place on the channel was Liam Walsh vs Paul Appleby. The former earned a stoppage victory in the tenth round inside York Hall in Bethnal Green.

The promoter concluded, “Barney Francis, at that time, when I’d gone, one of the reasons why we started Box Nation is because he turned around and said to us, because of the c**p he got from Davison fighting David Haye. How bad it was, and the problems they had with it, they wouldn’t be doing any PPV’s. That’s when I decided to walk away. They didn’t fire us, we fired them.”

Box Nation later switched to a subscription channel in December 2011 and started having PPV events. Warren revealed that this was also one of the main reasons why he quit Sky.