Frank Warren Believes Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou Will Break Box Office Records

Frank Warren believes Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou will be a big box office success.

Fury and Ngannou are set to box on October 28, in Saudi Arabia, in an intriguing matchup. It’s not the fight that many boxing purists wanted, but it is an interesting bout given it is Fury vs. the former UFC heavyweight champion.

Although many fans believe Fury will run through Ngannou, Warren still thinks fans will pay attention to it and calls it the biggest event he’s been involved with.

“This is the biggest event I have ever been involved with,” Warren explained to William Hill. “You’ve got the lineal champion and the number-one heavyweight in the UFC. The guy from the UFC has decided he wants to fight; I haven’t got a problem with that. It’s a massive, massive, massive event; the biggest event out there that will break box office records.” 

As well, Frank Warren believes the fight being in Saudi Arabia shows that the Middle East is the new destination for big fights.

“One of the problems we had with fighters before pay-per-view is they would have to go to Las Vegas. Do you know why? Because they get a site fee from a casino before you start,” Warren said. When I launched a pay-per-view fight with Mike Tyson and Frank Bruno – the first show on Sky – that was a game-changer because then we could start doing loads of shows over here with Showtime, a place where we launched a lot of fighters’ careers.  

“With Saudi, this is a slightly similar situation. Where we are now, we are doing an event out there, and we are opening up the Riyadh Festival, which is huge,” Warren added. “Saudi Arabia has all this criticism about it, but they are out there saying ‘This is our country’. Is it any different than when Roman Abramovich came to Chelsea or when the same thing happened to Manchester City?” 

Will you be watching Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou?