Willy Does Business!

By: Frank Warren

(November 9th) Fittingly, on fireworks weekend at the AO Arena in the heart of Manchester, we got to enjoy one banger after another.

Then, to cap it all, a young man who we took on at the age of 19, won WBC world light heavyweight title and became the fifth world champion, plus two IBO title winners, currently on our books.

Huge congratulations to Willy Hutchinson, who has overcome a number of setbacks along the way to realise his world title dream. He did fade a bit in the last couple of rounds, but I don’t think there is any doubt that it was his hand that deserved to be raised over that of the gallant Joshua Buatsi.

Willy just got it right on the night, relying on his speed and skills to bank the rounds and his superb movement to largely keep himself out of bother.

He did what he had to do and he knew that this version of himself would pose big problems for the more textbook Josh.

Willy has booked himself a massive 2027 and I feel he deserves every bit of success that comes his way. There are some smashing fights to be made and the light heavyweight division is a strong one with plenty of options.

A little bit of food for thought for any young fighters when a fight goes against them. There was a short period between the end of 2020 and early 2021, in the dark days of semi-lockdown, when two of our major young talents suffered a first career defeat and were written off in many quarters.

Fast forward to the present time and both of these fighters are world champions. Willy and Daniel Dubois.

As I always say, it is not about losing, it is how you lose and how you respond to it.

I was thrilled on Saturday for Jack Rafferty, especially seeing the joy that winning the IBO world welterweight title brought to him and his family.

I am a bit old fashioned, but Jack is everything I love in a fighter. He is all heart, brave as a lion, always looking to improve, entertaining to watch, respectful and lots of other qualities - too many to list.

He just gets it, he understands the game and what you need to do and be to really make everything work. He hasn’t had anything given to him on a plate, he has grafted hard and he deserves every bit of success that comes his way.

He delivered another superb performance against Hovhannes Martirosyan, which captivated the crowd and gives him a seat at the top table in the welterweight division.

Unfortunately for his team, they didn’t have it all their own way on the night due to the horrific head swelling suffered by Zak Miller in his British title battle against Gully Powar.

It is hard to always achieve fairness in boxing but, after any head clash, the fighter on the receiving end is automatically at a disadvantage in the following rounds when they have an injury to deal with.

This is often then reflected in the scoring, which isn’t fair. To be quite honest, in this instance, I would have preferred the fight be stopped straight away. It was a nasty, nasty head injury and probably nobody could be exactly certain what they were dealing with.

I don’t think I have seen anything like it in all my time so, in the interests of safety, I would lean on the side of stopping it and let the medics get to work.

However, it was a smashing fight and I take nothing away from Gully, who can rightly celebrate his British title success and look forward to what is to come for him.

The same goes for Brad Rea, who executed a brutal and spectacular finish against Ezra Taylor in a fight that was predicted to be a close run thing.

Brad appears to be a natural at the weight and he is another, like Jack, who has really had to work his way up the ladder with very few favours done for him along the way.

Brad says he wants more title opportunities and that is what he will get from now on.

The Queensberry Bandwagon now prepares to roll into Germany for the WBC world title showdown between Agit Kabayel and Nelson Hysa at the end of this month on the 28th.

It is going to be something very special in Dusseldorf with an expected crowd of over 60,000 inside the Esprit Arena on the night. We’ve added some British interest with cruiserweight force Aloys Jr on the card against Artur Mann, so don’t forget to mark out the date in your DAZN diary!

About Queensberry Promotions

Queensberry, time and time again, delivers a debut to a champion journey for richly talented young fighters and provides an unrivalled platform for them to showcase their ability to the widest possible audience via a major broadcast collaboration and an exceptional digital portfolio.

Fight promotions are regularly staged, servicing the requirements of novice prospects, contenders, title challengers and champions. Boxers are given every opportunity to build a following and maximise their potential.

Home Of the Heavyweights

Frank Warren has stated his intention to dominate the heavyweight division, which is recognised as the marquee weight category in the sport with the widest public recognition.

Tyson Fury came on board with his return to boxing and rejuvenated British interest with his winning of the WBC world title and his epic trilogy with former champion Deontay Wilder.

Looking further into the future, Frank signed up young force Daniel Dubois as a teenager and subsequently guided him towards becoming IBF world champion. The 2016 British Olympian and silver medalist Joe Joyce was also signed and he became WBO Interim world champion. Current English champion David Adeleye was also signed ahead of his professional debut.

More recently, the heavyweight contingent has swollen with the recruitment of Chinese giant Zhilei Zhang, former WBO world champion Joseph Parker, British champion Fabio Wardley, WBC Silver champion Lawrence Okolie and the return to the Queensberry fold of Derek Chisora, along with future contenders such as Solomon Dacres, Vladislav Sirenko, Lewis Williams and Boma Brown.

Mr Warren also proudly guides the career of former World youth amateur champion Moses Itauma, the 20-year-old who currently holds the WBA International and WBO Intercontinental heavyweight titles and is viewed as the future of the sport.