Frank Warren has done a great job rebuilding his stable. After the defections of Ricky Hatton, Joe Cazaghe and Amir Khan to Golden Boy, Warren was left without a showhorse. He may have a few now:
http://www.frankwarren.tv/index.php/photos/current-fighters.html.
With the recent signing of John Murray, he now has Murray, Nathan Cleverly (just announced to fight for a light heavyweight title), Ricky Burns, Kevin Mitchell, James DeGale and Kell Brook. Several of these young and promising fighters are on their way to becoming prime time attractions. Hopefully a few could be encouraged to cross the pond. Warren stages big events in throughout the U.K. and is the only successful promoter to build consistent U.K. pay-per-view and premium network attractions.
http://www.frankwarren.tv/index.php/photos/current-fighters.html.
With the recent signing of John Murray, he now has Murray, Nathan Cleverly (just announced to fight for a light heavyweight title), Ricky Burns, Kevin Mitchell, James DeGale and Kell Brook. Several of these young and promising fighters are on their way to becoming prime time attractions. Hopefully a few could be encouraged to cross the pond. Warren stages big events in throughout the U.K. and is the only successful promoter to build consistent U.K. pay-per-view and premium network attractions.
Golden Boy seems to have many of the institutional advatages in the U.S. They have an output deal with HBO, and exclusive agreement with many AEG facilities and their own dedicated TV pipeline to build up their younger names. Yet looking at the enourmous Golden Boy roster:
http://www.goldenboypromotions.com/fighters/, there are not tons of stars. Hopkins is in his winter. Mosley left to fight Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez is rumored to follow Mosley out the door. Katsidis is a great television fighter while Haye and John are only Golden Boy fighters when they fight in the U.S. This leaves Golden Boy with the exciting Argentine duo of Marcos Maidana and Lucas Matthysse, the enigma of Robert Guerrero, two genuine stars in Saul Alvarez and Amir Khan some curiosities with Seth Mitchell, James Kirkland and Peter Quillen, some possible reclamation projects (Victor Ortiz and Daniel Jacobs) and a bunch of kids.
http://www.goldenboypromotions.com/fighters/, there are not tons of stars. Hopkins is in his winter. Mosley left to fight Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez is rumored to follow Mosley out the door. Katsidis is a great television fighter while Haye and John are only Golden Boy fighters when they fight in the U.S. This leaves Golden Boy with the exciting Argentine duo of Marcos Maidana and Lucas Matthysse, the enigma of Robert Guerrero, two genuine stars in Saul Alvarez and Amir Khan some curiosities with Seth Mitchell, James Kirkland and Peter Quillen, some possible reclamation projects (Victor Ortiz and Daniel Jacobs) and a bunch of kids.
Looking over those two lists and my money would be on Warren over the next few years. Now Golden Boy could continue to be the poaching kings and add to their stable (they recently went back to the Warren fairgrounds for Matthew Macklin), but for a company as large as they are, their immediate prospects don't look as interesting as Warren's do. I expect to see many matchups between the two promotional outfits in the coming years. As Golden Boy and Top Rank continue to avoid fighting each other in the ring, there needs to be other outlets for their fighters.
For Warren, nothing would be better than some sweet revenge. If he couldn't beat Golden Boy outside of the ring before he has a chance to beat them in the ring now. I hope he can put his past grievances aside and match his fighters against Golden Boy. I think they would do quite well.
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