Frank Warren
Born: Feb. 28, 1952
Induction: 2008
Born February 28, 1952 in Islington, England. The son of a bookmaker, Warren began promoting ToughMan contests in 1975.
In 1981 he promoted his first boxing show and, over the next 26 years, would go on to promote the brightest stars in British boxing. Among the boxers he promoted include Joe Calzaghe (super middle), Ricky “Hitman” Hatton (light welter/ welter), Nigel Benn (super middle), Frank Bruno (heavy), “Prince” Naseem Hamed (feather), Steve Collins (super middle), Robin Reid (super middle), Danny Williams (heavy), Johnny Nelson (cruiser), Richie Woodhall (super middle), Scott Harrison (feather) Enzo Maccarinelli (cruiser) and Olympic silver medalist Amir Khan.
He also promoted Mike Tyson for two bouts in the U.K in 2000 (TKO 2 Julius Francis and TKO 1 Lou Savarese). Renowned for his promotional creativity, he has secured television broadcast deals with British television giants ITV and BSkyB for his promotions.
In 1996 he established one of boxing's premier promotional companies, Sports Network. Among the many major bouts Warren has promoted include Hatton's 2005 IBF light-welterweight title win over Kostya Tszyu and Calzaghe's super middleweight win over Jeff Lacy (2006) and his recent unification bout with Mikkel Kessler (2007), a bout which drew 50,000 spectators.