Frank Warren exclusive: Fury vs Usyk prediction, Anthony Joshua timeline and making friends with Eddie Hearn

Frank Warren was 14 when he first got the taste for heavyweight boxing.

Tuning in the family television set in 1966, he watched in awe as Muhammad Ali knocked out Cleveland Williams inside just three rounds. From that moment, he knew he wanted to be involved in boxing — ideally with the heavyweights — in some capacity.

Despite more than five decades in the sport as a promoter, Warren still finds it surreal that he is now one of the puppeteers of one of the biggest fights — and with the multi-millions being discussed certainly the richest heavyweight one — as Tyson Fury takes on Oleksandr Usyk in Riyadh on Saturday.

“I remember the older generation didn’t like Muhammad Ali,” he recalls. “They thought he was an upstart, but he was exciting to watch, a great personality and a funny man, a very funny man. He was the hero of a generation or two. I absolutely loved him.”

More than half a century later, he draws comparisons between Ali and his own charge, Fury, likening both their characters and their universal appeal.

Warren says: “Tyson’s the biggest personality in heavyweight boxing since Muhammad Ali,” he says. “He says some nutty stuff sometimes, but he is a massive personality, he’s a very smart guy and he doesn’t suffer fools.

“Plus, he’s very philosophical. If something goes wrong, he can be down, but he just bites the bullet and gets on with it.”

The heavyweight unification fight puts all the main belts on the line and Warren says: “For what’s being guaranteed, it’s the richest fight ever.”

Huge sums have been bandied around. As for the exact figures, “You’re entitled to ask, but I won’t tell you”.

Warren is in arguably the richest period of his career. There is a rematch clause in the aftermath of Saturday and, should Fury win on both occasions, there is a similarly lucrative encounter with Anthony Joshua, scheduled to take place in the UK.

At 72, most of his fellow OAPs are winding down, but Warren has no intention of doing so, the passion burning as bright as ever. “Never in a million years did I think I’d ever be doing this in the first place, let alone still doing it,” he says. “I love it and I hope I’ve got some years left in me.”

Admittedly, he has a fight to promote when saying it, but argues: “I know I’m supposed to be selling it but, as a fight man, I think this fight will be something else, I feel like we’re in for one of those special fights.”

This bout has been a long time coming: scheduled, cancelled, rescheduled and then called off again when Fury suffered a large gash above his eye just before the February date.

“It’s been frustrating, as we felt we had the fight a few times in the UK first and it didn’t happen for various reasons,” he says. “But it’s been far quicker than, say, Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson, which took maybe 10 years to get on.

“So many fights get delayed with one fighter on the wane or neither in their prime. These guys are in their absolute prime.”

Fury has insisted he can beat Usyk drunk and argued the former cruiserweight is too small to challenge him. For the Ukrainian, the comments are water off a duck’s back.

Again, Warren is obliged to push his man, but thinks Fury will win inside the distance, while believing Usyk will pose a far greater challenge than Fury thinks.

“I hear the David and Goliath comment, but look at Evander Holyfield with Mike Tyson, or David Haye beating Nikolai Valuev,” he adds. “Usyk is an established heavyweight, he’s been at this weight for a few years and he’s been in the ring with big guys.

“Take Anthony Joshua, Usyk totally schooled him, beat him and nearly knocked him over at the end.

“But I think Tyson’s got the bettering of him. He’s changed his style since the [Deontay] Wilder fights, he’s more on the front foot, which makes his fights more competitive.

“He’s coming to fight, not sod around. The last fight [against Francis Ngannou] was not a great performance — it was an off-night.”

Fury is the favourite, which only adds to the prospect of Joshua next. But Warren does not see that happening before 2025, the destination for it to be on home soil, potentially at Wembley.

“It won’t happen this year unless one of [Fury or Usyk] steps aside from the rematch,” he says. “And they won’t with the money involved, but there’s a pathway to finally seeing it happen.”

The cause of Fury-Joshua finally reaching fruition is helped by the fact that Warren and Joshua’s promoter, Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn, have ended years of squabbling to make peace, predominantly because of the riches on offer to them in Saudi Arabia.

Of their relationship now, Warren says: “We’re not sleeping together, but we’re best mates. At the end of the day, something had to be done and we were both sensible enough to know it.”

For Warren, heavyweight fights have always been anxiety inducing: as a teenager, it was willing his preferred fighter to win; as a promoter, he admits: “Often, all you want to do is get it over and done with, but I still love it”.