CARDIFF — Frank Warren has praised Dana White for having a big involvement behind the scenes in finally making Tyson Fury against Anthony Joshua in Cardiff, a heavyweight battle that had escaped inception for a decade amid disputes over venue and promotion.
Warren said the issues holding up the contest in recent months centred on where it would take place and who would promote it, with Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn arguing it should be in Britain while Fury and others favoured the United States. Hearn had also been adamant that White could have no involvement, as stated in a clause in the original contracts of both fighters. Warren, who has stayed quiet while Hearn and White traded jibes in interviews, said there is mutual respect between himself and the UFC chief executive. "Well, I wish he hadn't announced our engagement, but it's come out now. I was trying to keep a lid on it," Warren joked when asked about White's move into boxing. "Dana's doing what he's doing. Like he said himself, and I've said it when I've been asked a question about his involvement, judge him by the end of the year. He and TKO have had a big involvement behind the scenes in the fight in Cardiff. And that's it. I have no problem [with them being involved]." He added: "It's in both the fighters' contracts that there'd be no TKO involvement or Dana White, but the bottom line is for us, for Tyson, if Tyson's happy, I'm happy. I have no problem with it whatsoever."
Warren, who spent years trading barbs with Hearn before their recent reconciliation, admitted he has enjoyed watching his former rival feud with White from the sidelines. "It's always a bit of fun, isn't it? I mean, it's sort of great. It's all on the sort of outside," he said. "It adds to all the tensions and I mean everyone loves all the sound bites and all the stuff backwards and forwards, but at the end of the day, you can't sell tickets for promoters arguing with each other. Like me slagging off Eddie or Eddie slagging me off, or Dana slagging me or Eddie off, or anyone for that matter. It doesn't sell tickets. People don't pay for that. When they go to watch a fight everybody's looking in the ring. They ain't looking nowhere else. All they're interested in is the guys in the ring."
Warren, who has cemented himself as the leading promoter in the UK in recent years, plans to make his mark in the United States in 2027 and insisted the positive relationship with White will endure despite increased competition. "I mean, like he said, he likes competition. We like competition," Warren said. "No one's more competitive than us, but we do it quietly. We get on with it. At the end of it all, your proof is in bums on seats. This year the fights we've had and got coming up, sellout shows, that is what you judge promotion on. And that speaks for itself where we're at."