FRANK WARREN NOT HOLDING BACK ON FABIO WARDLEY LOSS TO DANIEL DUBOIS, FURY-AJ, DAVISON, ZUFFA-SHAKUR

Kugan Cassius (0:07)

This is Kugan Cassius for iFL TV, delighted to be joined by Mr. Frank Warren. How are you, sir?

Frank Warren (0:16)

I'm good, how are you, young man?

Kugan Cassius (0:17)

I'm all right, recovering from the weekend, but yeah. We'll come on to that in a second, but yeah, you're all good?

Frank Warren (0:26)

Yeah, yeah, I'm good.

I really enjoyed the weekend as a spectacle. It was a great, great show, tremendous atmosphere there, sold out, which is great news. And yeah, it was exciting whilst it lasted.

Kugan Cassius (0:45)

Let's jump straight into it. I think of all the different scenarios that people were surmising of what would happen in that fire.

I didn't really see a two round win for Daniel Dubois. Did you, or did that contemplate, or did you contemplate that, that he could go that early in Dubois' favour?

Frank Warren (1:05)

No, I didn't think it would be short.

But, you know, I always say it, especially with these big guys, they're such phenomenal punchers, especially, you know, both of them are big punchers. And you get caught with shots, sometimes it's difficult to get over it. And he got caught with a good shot. And, you know, what I noticed about it, you know, the fight before the fight, I went in to see both of them before the fight took place, into the dressing rooms, you know, and you just wish him luck and all that. And Daniel, it just, he was just seemed, he wasn't there. And I was, I actually got a little bit concerned about it. I thought, bloody hell, like, you know, he's not even, you know, communicating. And then I see him walking to the ring up on the screen, because obviously, you know, standing in the ring and I could see him. And he seemed so focused. And when he got in there, he wouldn't take his eyes off of, you know, off of Fabio. And he just zoned in. And even after the stoppage afterwards, I looked at him and he had a right, he had this real serious look on his face. And I just said to him, you've won the fight. You know, you should be happy as a winner. Winners are happy, aren't they? And he sort of didn't smile. I don't know if his dad got any of it. Then suddenly broke out into a big smile. So he was so focused. I mean, I've never seen him as focused as that. Probably the nearest to it is when he fought AJ.

And Fabio, you know, Fabio is a big, big puncher, tough guy. I mean, that's the first time he's touched down in a fight, isn't it? Been on the floor.

And what a big shot he took and still carried on, got to the end of the round. But Daniel was very composed. He had great composure, took his time and done the job and done it in tremendous style.

Kugan Cassius (3:01)

Yeah, I mean, judging obviously how the first fight went and that early knockdown for Fabio in the first fight. I mean, I think it was the difference in knockdowns about three or four seconds in that second fight for Dubois. But yeah, Fabio possibly didn't recover from that, Frank? A few people think...

Frank Warren (3:21)

No, I don't think he did. I don't think he did. It was early in the fight. He didn't go over it. You know, the previous fight, Daniel recovered, although he got clips again in the third round, but he recovered. And that was the difference. And he just got, you know, he's a big puncher, Daniel. He's a powerful man. If he catches you, you know, you're in trouble if he catches her and he's a good finisher.

And, you know, as I keep saying, and I've noticed it over the last, over this last year, how much he's matured mentally. He's a different person in some ways, mentally. He's so focused and he's got this tremendous self-belief now, which is good.

Kugan Cassius (4:02)

I was just talking to Herne there, Frank, and he said that, kind of, what happened with Dubois in the Joyce fight and the first Zusek fight, et cetera? Not a lot of people kind of come back from that and become stronger, but it's quite evident that this has happened with Dubois, isn't it?

Frank Warren (4:22)

Well, the first one, you know, the first fight with Joe, Joe's a tough sod. I mean, he's a, you know, he's a, and Joe boxed well that night, but Daniel, you know, Daniel, they were, they were serious injuries. He was out in the ring for a long time. And, you know, and his eye, I mean, we couldn't even get a diagnosis because when you, they can't do an MRI when your eyes are all swollen up. And when we had to wake up for a fight, well, not for a fight, it was about five or six days for his eyes to, eye to the swelling to go down a bit. And then they did it and they found those fractures and he had a, and his retina was, was partially detached. So that was a terrible, terrible injury. And that was the pain, the pain that he was, it was, you know, bad pain. And thankfully, you know, he did what he did. Otherwise, he wouldn't, you know, he wouldn't have been there Saturday night, it would have been the end of his career. It's as simple as that. And he, and what he's, you know, he's come back from that and he got, you know, and he put, when you look at his record and you look at the guys he's fought, the top 10 guys, beat most of them. I mean, you know, the fight with, with Joe, you know, Joe won it and, you know, as I say, he sustained a serious injury in that fight. And the ones, you know, the other two losses against the, you know, the best heavyweight of his generation, generational great. And he had him in trouble. And I still maintain, I'm gonna start all you trollers and keyboard warriors off again. I still maintain that was, that low blow was a genuine blow. But again, I think, I think if his mindset was now, what he's got now, maybe that would have been a different result in that fight. Because he is different mentally now.