Frank Warren has questioned the wisdom of Zuffa Boxing investing so heavily to recruit Conor Benn from Matchroom.
He has also rejected suggestions that Zuffa’s Dana White is on course to have the impact on boxing that has been speculated about – and insisted that Queensberry Promotions’ contracts with Tyson Fury, Hamzah Sheeraz and Agit Kabayel will safeguard them against any potential promotional “complications” in the coming months.
On the same day that it was reported that he plans to sue Zuffa’s owners TKO and Saudi Arabia’s Sela for $1bn because of the partnership between them from which he has been excluded – he largely refused to comment on those reports – he dismissed the wisdom of TKO reportedly investing eight figures for one fight with the 29-year-old Benn.
Benn’s departure from Matchroom and Eddie Hearn’s vocal reaction to it has made a bigger impact than any other signing Zuffa has made – the world’s leading cruiserweight Jai Opetaia included – but his highest-profile victory is that over Chris Eubank Jnr in November 2025, and Warren, who has since reached out to Hearn about the development, also dismissed Eubank Jnr’s abilities and therefore the value of that win.
“The sums of money that’s being paid – I don’t see what that type of investment is doing,” Warren said. “He ain’t even the best at his weight in Essex.
“I’d make that fight [against fellow welterweight Ekow Essuman] in a heartbeat. But good luck to him – good luck to him and he’s getting a few quid and it is what it is.
“I would find definitely better places to spend my money on or better fighters to spend my money on. I don’t see that investment, but maybe I’m getting older and they know better than I do.
“I actually sent [Hearn] a little note [about Benn]. I’m not going to say what I sent in a note, but I sent him a little note; sent him a text.
“I mean, some people dig out all these old interviews... One of them especially, someone said, ‘Well have a look at that’ and I’ve got better things to do than piss around watching it but I thought to myself, it reminded me when I got shot years ago [in 1989] and there was a fighter who said, ‘Oh I wish I was there – I would’ve took a bullet for him’ and all that shit. I’m in the hospital, and a month later he went over and signed for Barry Hearn. I remember sending him a message saying, ‘Where was you when I needed you to take that bullet?’
“I don’t know how it will end. I’ve never rated Chris Eubank Jnr at all. Ever. I seen him fight with a 70 per cent fit Billy Joe Saunders [in 2014]. Billy pissed the first six rounds. Everyone said it was a fight of two halves. It wasn’t. He won three of the next six and he was struggling when he went into that fight. Every time he steps up, Chris Jnr, he falls down.”
When he was asked about reports of the lawsuit he is preparing for his newest rivals the 73-year-old Warren would only say “It didn’t just happen overnight, that’s for sure”. It was with Queensberry that Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority and Turki Alalshikh first consistently invested into the highest level of boxing, but their partnership with TKO and Zuffa has since emerged as a threat to Warren, Hearn and more.
The professional cheerleader Max Kellerman, while hosting a press conference to promote the contest in September between Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Terence Crawford, said of White: “He built something like the NBA. He’s about to do it for boxing again; for boxing now. You want an NBA or an NFL in boxing? Here it comes. Because he knows how to build an institution. And how you do that.”
There have since been further suggestions about White’s potential to transform the sport, but Warren – more influential than at any other time since Hearn emerged as his greatest rival in 2012 – said: “What’s he saving [boxing] from? The UFC model is a great model because it was a blank piece of paper and it basically works on an 80-20 basis. I’ve got to be honest – I’d be too embarrassed [to take that].
“But the bottom line of it is we’ll see. Time will tell.”
