The Frank Warren Column

ALL THINGS BEING well with the healing process from his eye injuries, Tyson Fury now remains firmly on course for the blockbuster rematch with Deontay Wilder early next year.

The best laid plans can quickly evaporate and come to nothing in boxing and Tyson’s date with the Bronze Bomber might well have had to be aborted had the referee and doctor deemed that the cuts inflicted by Otto Wallin were just too severe to continue.

Now we just need Deontay to fulfil his part of the bargain and come through his proposed final rehearsal against Luis Ortiz ahead of the big showdown.

It was never likely to be quite as straightforward as everyone predicted for Tyson against an unbeaten and highly motivated contender such as Wallin.

The Swede came to fight and seize the moment. He was obviously inspired when the cuts opened up above Tyson’s eye and he did everything he could to force the officials to intervene.

It is an age-old statement, but it is true. One punch can alter the whole landscape in boxing – particularly with the heavyweights – and the shot that split the skin of Tyson above the eye could have seen to it that we had another unlikely heavyweight hero this year.

You could see that Wallin meant business at the weigh-in. He was very composed and not intimidated by the prospect of entering into such a big fight against the No.1 heavyweight in the world.

As it turned out, Tyson clearly won the fight, but he had to do it under extremely difficult circumstances, what with being nearly blind in one eye for half the fight with all the bloodshed.

I admit to having some serious concerns when the referee called on the doctor a couple of times and I was relieved they allowed him to continue. It is not a pretty sight when blood seeps from wounds in fights, but the only danger it presents is when it affects the vision.

A banged up hand or a fractured jaw are far more serious ring injuries.

Fighters are not machines though and Tyson has been in constant training for 14 months, with having to lose all that weight at the start and Ben Davison has done a really good job with him.

OUR FIRST WIN of the day over in Las Vegas came when we won the purse bid to stage the WBO world bantamweight title clash between our man Zolani Teteand the Interim champion John Riel Casimero.

We are working on a venue for it at the moment and we want to get Zolani back and rolling again after the disappointment for him of having to withdraw from the World Boxing Super Series due to injury.

There are some really big fights out there for him, but he has obviously got to get through a really good fighter in Casimerofirst.

I WAS DELIGHTED to learn that Daniel Dubois has been acknowledged by the Boxing Writers’ Club as the Best Young Boxer of the Year.

He has done particularly well this year and winning the British title in a huge domestic showdown against Nathan Gorman is a particular highlight.

First things first though, Daniel needs to keep his mind on the job and clinch the Commonwealth title when he takes on the unbeaten Ghanaian Ebenezer Tetteh for the vacant belt at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday September 27.

I HAVEN’T WATCHED it right through yet, but I have received some glowing reports from our show at York Hall last Friday night.

I caught bits of it over in the States and did see Sunny Edwards doing his usual job and looking typically impressive in defeating Hugo Rosendo Guarneros. He is getting himself into a good position ahead of hopefully having a crack at a world title next year.

I didn’t see all of the final fight between Brad Foster and Lucien Reid, but from what I saw it looked very close. As ever with disputed decisions, the easiest way to settle matters is to make a rematch.

In the other main fight, I saw enough to see that Zak Chelli – although game as you like – I don’t think is a light heavyweight and needs to get back down to super middle. Kody Davies, meanwhile, has set himself up for bigger fights ahead.

Finally on York Hall, congratulations to both ShakanPitters and Dec Spelman who delivered a belter of a fight for the English light heavyweight title.