Frank Warren has made a sensational million pound bet with Eddie Hearn over their rival Matchroom and Queensberry companies.
The legendary boxing promoter was speaking with Mail Sport’s Charlotte Daly after the Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou press conference in London.
Asked what he made of their upcoming bout on March 8, he said: ‘If [Ngannou] hits him on the chin, he’ll knock him down, he’s a big puncher. It’s a jeapordy fight for AJ.
‘Do they think it’s easy? He has the benefit that Tyson didn’t, there’s some footage of [Ngannou] and he’s seen him in the ring with the best heavyweight in the world.
‘What will Ngannou have learnt from his first fight? Now he knows what he has to do to improve. His team did their homework on Tyson and got some of it right. Whereas Tyson is undefeated, AJ has a couple of defeats on his record. Will he look to that for inspiration? I’m sure he will do.’
Eddie Hearn runs the Matchroom boxing promotions company with his father Barry
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Warren, 71, runs Queenberry Promotions with his son George and has promoted a number of top fighters, including Frank Bruno, Amir Khan, Ricky Hatton and Tyson Fury.
As far back as 2020 he hinted at putting the best of Queenberry’s fighters against Matchroom.
Now, it appears this could be becoming a reality – and the 71-year-old sounds more than confident.
‘We’ve got to sort out the weights,’ Warren said. ‘Because there’s five fights, there will be a winner one of the teams will win unless we get a draw.
‘To make it a little bit more spicy, I’d like to have a wager on it with [Hearn] as well. [I’d be willing to bet] a million pounds.’
Speaking further about the possibility of Fury fighting AJ after his fight with Ngannou, Warren added: ‘You heard what his excellency said, he would like to see the winner of the fight on the 17th in with the winner of this fight on the 8th March. He’s got a great way of making things happen so we’ll see.
Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou go head-to-head at a press conference in London
‘There’s a lot of pressure on AJ because he’s the guy who’s expected to win. Ngannou’s in a position where he has nothing to lose so it will be quite interesting.
‘He performed extremely well against Tyson, I thought I wish I could have signed him up as a boxer years ago. He showed what he’s all about. Let’s see what he does against Joshua. If he comes through that he’s one of the top three heavyweights in the world.
‘I would love to see the fight with AJ. I’ve always wanted to see that fight. I’m biased and I think Tyson will win the fight. If Tyson fought Ngannou again it would be a totally different fight.
‘He has a great boxing brain and knows what he has to do. What happened happened, he still won, that’s what champions do and he showed what he’s all about. He’s got a tough fight with Usyk and I think he’ll win it.’