Why Francis Warren is taking the family Queensberry empire to Poland
Boxing promoter Francis Warren is hoping to expand his family’s Queensberry empire by mining an untapped Polish fight scene.
The son of hall-of-fame promoter Frank Warren has launched Queensberry Poland, which is due to stage its first show on Saturday.
Warren Jr, 36, hopes to groom future Polish world champions who buck the trend by having their biggest fights in front of home fans.
“The reason I want to go to Poland is because of the fighters,” says Warren.
“Polish fighters are strong and technically very capable. With the right backing, so they’re not on their bike abroad every couple months, you’ll see these Polish guys have long reigns as world champions. That’s the challenge for me.”
Multi-year broadcast deal
Dynasties are nothing new in boxing promotion. Eddie Hearn has made Matchroom major players since taking over the boxing business from father Barry.
Warren hopes success in Poland can help him make his mark on Queensberry, where dad Frank looks after Tyson Fury and fellow British heavyweights Daniel Dubois and Joe Joyce.
“It’s about development, whether that’s personal or on a business level. This is the next stage of development for me, for Queensbury, and we’re going international,” he says.
“It means I’m going to sleep less. You don’t get anything by not giving 100 per cent. It’s about grafting and working hard. We’ve been brought up to not worry about a few bags under your eyes.”
Queenberry Poland’s first show will be shown on BoxNation in Britain, while they have a multi-year deal with domestic broadcaster Polsat.
Headlining the card is unbeaten light-heavyweight Pawel Augustynik’s clash with Darek Sek.
Warren adds: “We want to come over and make a dent, we want to make a success of it. We want to enhance what’s going on and give Polish boxing the recognition it deserves.”