Frank Warren On Mike Tyson Dropping Him: βIt Was A Cheap Shotβ
British boxing promoter Frank Warren has finally revealed exactly what went down when heavyweight legend Mike Tyson punched him 20 years ago.
In 2000 βIron Mikeβ travelled over to the United Kingdom for two fights which were stage by Warren. The first against Julius Francis in January of that year went off without a hitch. Tyson returned to England in June to take on Lou Savarese but that fight week didnβt go as planned.
Speaking on the latest episode of the Crisis, What Crisis Podcast Warren revealed what led to his altercation with Tyson, he said.
βFirst time he came over, no problems, he was great. And then he went into a jewellers and walked out with an invoice for β¦ Β£1.5 million, Β£2 million something like that.β
βThey never paid the bill and the jewellers, quite rightly, wanted to get paid and they kept ringing me. And I was ringing the States. Theyβre telling me, βDonβt worry, weβre going to do another fight here letβs pay it out of thatβ. When he came back the second time he was just awful. Beyond awful. He was petulant, aggressive, totally different scenario. The bill hadnβt been paid still and heβd gone into the jewellers because there was a girl in there that he had met and he was basically showing off to her. To cut a long story short, he got pissed about it.
βAnd I was ringing the States. Theyβre telling me, βDonβt worry, weβre going to do another fight here, letβs pay it out of the next fee.β When he came back the second time he was just awful. He was awful, beyond awful. He was petulant, just aggressive, a totally different scenario.
βThe bill hadnβt been paid still and heβd gone into the jewelers β and the reason he went into the jewelers was because there was a girl in the jewelers that heβd met and he was basically showing off to her the first time.
βAnd, cut a long story short, he got p***ed about it. I donβt know this at the time,” Frank Warren continued.I get a call. Someone says to me, βMikeβs not happy.ββI say, βIβll come up and see him, whatβs the problem?β I go up to the hotel. Next minute, you stand there talking and heβs took a swing at me. Well he didnβt take a swing, he actually caught me.
βSo thereβs a lot of commotion, there was a lot of people in the room. I didnβt expect it by the way. It was a cheap shot. I got up. And it was all pandemonium, crazy, madness in the room. When I say itβs my fault, I should have known. I should have pulled out of that situation from the start. I shouldnβt have got involved.β
βI was absolutely fuming as you can imagine. Fuming with everybody involved. The lawyer at Showtime wanted to call the police, I said, βNo, no, no.β I donβt wanna do that. Iβll sort it out, donβt worry. All the newspapers said I had my jaw broken, my ribs were broken, that was all bulls***, nothing was broken at all. My eye just had a burst blood vessel, a red eye, that was it.
βHe fought, had his fight and I made sure that he paid for what he did, hit him where it hurt. He went berserk after the fight, the police actually ran him out of town. He went straight to Gatwick airport and they left the country.β (Transcribed by Talk Sport)
What do you make of this story from Frank Warren about Mike Tyson?