Frank Warren has worked with some of boxing’s most legendary names, including Tyson Fury and Joe Calzaghe.
Warren is a veteran British boxing promoter who has been involved in the sport for over 40 years. He’s since managed and promoted stars like Nigel Benn, Ricky Hatton, Amir Khan and Daniel Dubois, as well as Moses Itauama who fights Dillain Whyte this weekend, so has been central to shaping British boxing for over four decades.
Arguably his two biggest success stories have been Fury and Calzaghe, who both reached the pinnacle of the sport by claiming world honours.
When asked by talkSPORT about the most talented fighter he has ever worked with, he went with another legendary Brit rather than Fury or Calzaghe.
“For natural talent, I’d go with Naseem Hamed. Natural talent was Naz, but he didn’t deliver as much as I thought. He could have done much better. He did brilliantly, but he could have done much more. Had he not got his family involved, looking after him, he could have been even greater. They basically screwed up the latter part of his career – and I think he would acknowledge that.”
However, he also paid tribute to many of the other greats he has worked with.
“But going back over the years, I’ve been very lucky to promote some great fighters. Joe Calzaghe was a fabulous talent, Tyson Fury is another fabulous talent. Young Moses [Itauma] is looking like he will be another fabulous talent.”
It will take some going to match the achievements of ‘Prince Naz.’ He was a world featherweight champion between 1995 and 2000 and also held the lineal title from 1998 to 2001 after winning 35 fights on the bounce, only to come unstuck with his first loss against Marco Antonio Barrera after what was later revealed to have been a disastrous training camp.
Hamed got back into the ring in 2002 when he beat Manuel Calvo on points, but then retired for good aged just 28.
