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BEING FRANK
My dad was questioned over Frank Warren’s assassination attempt… now we’ve joined forces to make boxing’s best fights
Barry Hearn gave a now-infamous line to police
BARRY HEARN was once questioned over Frank Warren's assassination attempt - now his son has joined forces with the promoter.
The boxing rivalry dates back over 50 years when they both started putting on events in England.
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Hearn Sr and Warren even co-promoted alongside the iconic but equally controversial American Don King.
But in 1989 Warren was left fighting for his life after being shot outside the Broadway Theatre in Barking following an event of his.
The assailant - who covered himself with a balaclava - was never caught despite police investigations.
Officers even visited Hearn Sr with his young son Eddie overhearing the now infamous conversation.
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Eddie told SunSport: “I remember the buzzer went on the gates and I could see police out there and they just came in and said, ‘Where were you during this time? Do you know anyone that might dislike Frank Warren?’
“And my dad said, ‘Rule out Mother Theresa but everyone else is possible.’ It was a famous line.
“I think they’ve had their rivalry over the years but he’s always said to me that, ‘You’ll like Frank. You’ll like his company.’
“But we just never got on to do business. It’s probably quite strange him seeing us doing business now with Frank.
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FRANK WARREN ON BEING SHOT IN 1989
It hurt! It made me jump! It was a surreal moment, it’s not something you were expecting to happen.
I was just getting out of my car in Barking, Colin McMillan was fighting there. I was getting out the car and I heard a bang. I thought it was a car backfiring.
I looked around and I’ve seen somebody standing there holding a gun.
First of all I thought it was a joke, I was looking around and I thought, ‘What’s all this about?’
I could see him shaking a bit, then there was a click and I realised there was another bang and I felt pain in my side.
“What had happened, it had gone in my chest and I was standing at an angle and thankfully it went through my lung – and I lost half a lung – and came out.
A friend of mine, a barrister called John Buttress, he went, ‘What the f*** are you doing?’ And he jumped on him.
I didn’t realise, I suddenly felt this gurgling in my throat and because obviously the blood through my lungs had got into my throat.
And then I was losing my breath, I went down on one knee and then I remember my late uncle Bob coming out and my brother Robert.
They were standing over me, they were helping me and they said, ‘Get a doctor, get a doctor.’
At every show we have doctors and the Boxing Board of Control’s doctor came out. I remember him saying, ‘Have you got a hankerchief?’
I said, ‘Yeah,’ and he said, ‘Hold it on.’
At the time the ambulances were all on strike so the next minute they bundled me into the back of a police van.
They done like a 16-point turn up the curbs and everything.
And they drove me off to the hospital and that was it.
*Warren was speaking to ...
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“But also I think he’s enjoying the fruits that it brings to our business, and our sport and our fighters.”
Warren survived the murder attempt as a 9mm bullet - from a Luger pistol - missed his heart by just an inch.
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He did lose half a lung and parts of his ribs and was unable to promote for over a year - forcing his business into liquidation.
Boxer Terry Marsh - who was involved in a legal dispute with Warren - was arrested and charged with attempted murder on his ex-promoter.
But Marsh was later acquitted.
Warren estimates the incident cost him £14million but over the years he sensationally fought back to get his career on track again.
By the 2010s, Hearn Sr passed Matchroom's boxing operations to Eddie and suddenly Warren had a new rival.
The warring promoters publicly feuded in the years following with the bitter relationship preventing boxing's best fights from taking place.
But that was until powerful Saudi Arabian minister Turki Alalshikh came on the scene.
Alalshikh's cash injection brought Hearn, Warren, their competing promotions and TV networks together.
It was maybe a reluctant handshake at first but it’s grown into really a friendship, a partnership.
Eddie Hearn on Frank Warren
They even put bragging rights on the line for a series of fights as part of a 5v5 boxing bonanza - which Warren won in a clean sweep.
Next up is Anthony Joshua - Hearn's long-time golden boy - against Warren's heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois on September 21.
So as the competition hots up in the ring, relationships continue to mend outside the ropes.
Eddie said: “Definitely when it first happened it was done really under the instruction of Turki Alalshikh to say, ‘Look, we’ve got a big opportunity here guys, don’t mess it up.’
“And we looked at the opportunity for the fighters and our own businesses and thought, ‘Yeah, this really something we should be doing.’
“And it was maybe a reluctant handshake at first but it’s grown into really a friendship, a partnership.
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“I’m close with George Warren, speak to him nearly every day on various things, not just Riyadh Season but opportunities for our two businesses.
“We’re planning the next 5v5 now - it’s going to be a huge event - and enjoying the business. Enjoying the new dynamic.”
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