'Can't live in the past' - Warren on boxing's future after 45 years as promoter

Frank Warren marked 45 years as a licensed promoter this year, a journey that began in circus tents and ballrooms and now spans stadium sell-outs and more than 200 world-title fights. Speaking to BBC Sport ahead of Saturday’s WBA featherweight defence by his Queensberry fighter Nick Ball against Brandon Figueroa in Liverpool, the 73-year-old Hall-of-Famer insists the sport must keep evolving if it is to remain relevant.

Warren, who will turn 74 later this month, has guided the careers of icons from Prince Naseem Hamed and Ricky Hatton to current heavyweight Tyson Fury. Yet he is adamant that nostalgia offers no roadmap for the next four-and-a-half decades. “If you live in the past that’s where you wind up, dead. The past is dead,” he says.

Central to his vision is a unified, global database of fighter medicals and anti-doping records, an issue highlighted when Francisco Rodriguez Jr failed tests before and after beating Galal Yafai in July 2025 but continued to compete while jurisdictions failed to share information. “People can’t just sod off and go and fight in a different area, country or jurisdiction,” Warren argues, rejecting calls for a single world governing body but urging the WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF to co-operate on safety.

The recent arrival of Zuffa Boxing, backed by UFC president Dana White, WWE executive Nick Khan and Saudi finance, proposes a league structure and one belt per division. Warren doubts the practicality of a single-title model, recalling eras when fewer belts left elite fighters frozen out, yet concedes four sanctioning bodies is “too much”. “When an unification fight happens, it’s a big, big thing,” he notes.

Queensberry’s switch to streaming service DAZN in 2025 reflects Warren’s belief that consumption habits have irreversibly changed. “EastEnders at one time had 15 million, 20 million people watching. They’re lucky to get three now,” he says, adding that his grandchildren source entertainment almost entirely through YouTube. With Netflix entering the market—having already screened Anthony Joshua v Jake Paul and preparing to show Tyson Fury’s April comeback against Arslanbek Makhmudov—Warren predicts technology will reshape both broadcast and live-event presentation, citing football’s 3D big-screen trials as a possible template.

Despite the digital shift, Warren maintains that ticket revenue will remain the sport’s financial bedrock. “The live gate’s always going to be there,” he says, stressing that promoters must harness new tech to enhance the in-arena and home-viewing experience and, ultimately, fighter earnings.

As Ball steps into the ring on Saturday, Warren’s focus is fixed forward. “The name of the game for any sport, any promoter is to capitalise on how technology is changing, generate income that makes the show a bigger show, makes it successful. And the bottom line of it is the fighters do really, really well.”