Alfie Warren (Left) with Danny Mac
Frank Warren’s Nephew shows the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree
It officially began with Frank Warren Promotions back in 1980. Frank would promote one of his first fights in 1977 at the age of 25; an unlicensed boxing match involving legendary East End hard men Lenny ‘’The Guvnor’’ McLean and Roy ‘’Pretty Boy’’ Shaw. Son Francis would grow up to be the chief of Queensberry Promotions and now, Alfie Warren, Nephew of Frank and Cousin of Francis has gathered a team together to start an exciting new venture, hoping to emulate the great success his Uncle has achieved in the promotional business with the exciting world of White Collar boxing where there is everything to gain and nothing to lose.
‘Box Office Promotions’ will be making its debut at the famous HMV Forum in London’s Kentish Town on April 6th 2012 with the aptly entitled theme ‘The Long Good Friday’. The contests consist of three, two minute rounds with all participants wearing headgear with a host of promising youngsters accompanied by lots of eager and entertaining fighters all looking for a shot at the big time appearing on the bill. Boxing fans after some fast and furious entertainment to begin their Easter weekend should look no further than the beginning of Alfie Warren, Danny Mac and Paul Larke’s history making promotional bow.
Along with Alfie, Danny is the team’s matchmaker dealing with all things boxing and has been involved in the sport for a long time. He is often at St Pancras gym and widely known in Camden and Islington with contacts to Amateur clubs. He counts Martin Power, an ex British Bantamweight champion as his closest friend. Paul is an accountant for Stirling Ackroyd in Shoreditch. He works in the background dealing with Venues and the media side of things. According to Alfie, Larke is a very smart and shrewd business man who reminds the young Warren of his Uncle. With the boxing brain and know- how of the London boxing scene in Mac, as well as the knowledge and experience Alfie has accumulated from being around the boxing kingpins in his family, both are very confident of putting on top class evenly matched fights for maximum entertainment.
Alfie, who took the time to speak to Undisputed, revealed the Warren’s are a close and supportive family and his Uncle’s promotional magic touch is something he had observed since childhood rather than having to pick the brains of Frank;
‘’We had a good relationship with Frank. My Father (Frank Warren’s brother) worked on his shows. When I was a kid he would often come and show support as me and my brother trained in the gym in Hackney. My brother Bobby was one of the top boxers at the club at the time and Frank would come down and give us encouragement.’’
Alfie flirted with the idea of a boxing career and between the ages of 14 – 16 trained regularly alongside ex Interim World Middleweight champion Jason Mathews 21 (18)– 2 (2) who can count a second round K.O of Ryan Rhodes in his impressive career and former British Bantamweight title holder Ian Napa. He would have two ‘’club on club’’ fights before going into the construction trade where his boxing ‘’fizzled out’’ after leaving school. He has no regrets.
‘’Those were great days.’’ Alfie admitted. ‘’It was a great atmosphere, with two great trainers in Bob and Steve Kipps and it was just a great experience being in that gym.’’
‘’Concerning Frank, I’ve never really had many tips from him. I’ve just observed what he does really. I’ve been to many of his shows and I will try to take the influence from what I’ve seen at his shows and incorporate them into mine. In my opinion Frank puts on the best shows in Europe. I’ve been to many other promoters shows and Frank’s are definitely the best, bar none. With our White collar show, I’m hoping to take some of that influence and make the best White collar shows around. The aim is to put on another four shows before the end of the year in the Islington area. We want to be the best in the area, then the best in London before becoming the best in the Country.’’
‘’Frank started with the unlicensed boxing. At the time he had more people coming to his unlicensed bouts than some of his professional ones. I’m just following in his footsteps while learning from my Uncle to make this a success. I hope to gain as much experience before maybe, one day getting to his level.’’
‘’ It all started for us on social nights out at the pub with myself and my friends passing on knowledge of the sport to one another, and we decided to get this going because our one main ambition is to make boxing popular again and this is what we are trying to achieve with Box Office Promotions.‘’
Box Office promotions is a brand new boxing promotion who give fighters the ‘’leg up’’ they need in trying to get into the amateur scene and hopefully onto the professional scene. All the fighters here are eager to impress and put on a big performance for the fans but more importantly, their boxing futures. Alfie feels that with an expected 1100 fans packed into the HMV Forum, coupled with the talent his fighters have and the trainers from various gyms in attendance, this is a key moment for them to make that step up.’’
‘’Every single boxer on this show has a following already. Also we feel this is the best time to make this move because British boxing is at an all time high.’’
‘’Our priority is to protect our boxers with the correct head gear and glove weight. For many of our fighters this will be their first outing so we don’t want to discourage them or more importantly, see them seriously hurt. But as time goes by we will perhaps start to drop the ounces and the head gear for more brutal contests.’’
It would seem that the Warren touch has come into play as the event is already the talk of the town;
‘’We have come to realise even at this early stage that it is becoming a success because ever since we have announced this show it has become a big talking point around Camden Town and Islington, where we are all based. After this show, we hope that a lot more people will be interested and ultimately bring more followers to the sport. This is our first and foremost ambition.’’
The Long Good Friday, ‘’A White Collar Boxing Extravaganza’’ brought to you by Box Office Promotions – will be held at the HMV Forum, 9 – 17 Highgate Road, Kentish Town, NM5 1JY on April 6th 2012. Doors open at 7:00pm with the first bout starting at 7:20pm.
For tickets book online at www.boxoffice-promotions.co.uk or call: 020 70339799
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