Warren: "I Want to Win and Then Repeat"

Frank Warren, the founder of Queensberry Promotions, shared his thoughts on the upcoming 5 vs 5 tournament between his company and Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing fighters.

"I've told all my fighters: 'Don't embarrass me. I'm not worried about you, just don't embarrass me.'

For obvious reasons, they need to be serious, but I also like to joke around a bit. There's a line you don't cross, but I try to ensure that although they have their individual careers—and that's the most important thing because boxing is the most selfish of sports—I want to maintain a spirit of camaraderie. I want them to feel like they don’t want to let each other down or the team. It’s important to them, it's important for Queensberry, our broadcasters, for everything.

I want to win and then repeat. I've never really spoken to Eddie Hearn until the last few weeks, and since then, we've had several quite constructive conversations. You might remember, I proposed a similar show concept a few years ago. It needs to be done now, and I think we could stage different levels of the show. We could do it at York Hall with the junior fighters, then a mid-sized show, say at the Copper Box, and then the big fights. There are a lot of different possibilities for how we can organize this.

Even if the fighters lose, but participate in a fight from which they learn something—it's not the end of the world, because they are gaining experience," said Warren.

The boxing evening of 5 vs 5 between Queensberry and Matchroom is set to take place on June 1st in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. You can find details about the pairs and tournament regulations here.