From ITV to Sky and from Sky to BoxNation, Frank Warren has never been shy about making a big move if he felt it would move his business forward. Given the current position boxing finds itself in, the the Hall of Fame promoter’s latest move may well prove to be his most significant.

From April 1st, Queensberry will end a successful partnership with TNT and begin an exclusive, multi-year deal with DAZN. The move strengthens the streaming platform’s hold on the boxing business and also opens the door to some of the sport’s biggest fights that little bit wider.

On Monday, Queensberry announced the first raft of shows of the new partnership.

On April 5th, Manchester’s Co-Op Live Arena will host a heavyweight night of action headlined by Dillian Whyte’s fight with Joe Joyce. On the undercard, two-weight world champion, Lawrence Okolie, will fight his long time rival Richard Riakporhe and English title holder, David Adeleye, will fight Jeamie TKV. Olympian, Delicious Orie, will also make his debut.

On May 10th in Nottingham, former IBF super featherweight champion Anthony Cacace, will fight former WBA featherweight champion, Leigh Wood and later that month, former undisputed 140lb title holder, Josh Taylor, returns as a welterweight against Ekow Essuman in Scotland.

Warren is relishing the idea of Queensberry joining promotional heavyweights Matchroom and Golden Boy on DAZN but the move hasn’t dulled his sense of competition in the slightest.

“We're with a channel that's a boxing channel,” Warren told The Ring.

“First of all, it's great for the fans. They haven't got to go and have three or four subscriptions. The home of boxing, that's what it is.

“We made a conscious decision and I did that after meeting all the top brass [at DAZN], meeting Sir Len [Blavatnik], and seeing their vision because I wasn't a believer in this to start with. I am now. I am a believer in what they've done and what their ambitions are.

“We've worked very hard ourselves. That’s why they made us the offer and we accepted it, because as a team we've moved forward.

“We want to be the best promoter on the channel. We will be the best and I think we are the best promoters on the channel, but it's going to be competitive.”

Back in 2011, Warren launched BoxNation after parting company with Sky Sports. The channel finally disappeared from airwaves in 2022 but for years, it offered British boxing fans the type of coverage they could have previously only dreamt of.

British fight fans were once accustomed to reading delayed reports and buying video tapes of international fights. The advent of YouTube and streaming services made footage much easier to come by but, suddenly, the vast majority of these events were available at the touch of a button in their living rooms.

Whether viewers wanted to sit and watch British action from York Hall, blockbuster marathon cards from Las Vegas or even bizarrely memorable afternoon shows from Russia, BoxNation provided it.

DAZN’s boxing coverage has become arguably even more thorough.

That previous experience of producing shows and content for viewers who have specifically decided to add a subscription to particular channel to their monthly television package should make for a smooth transition but whereas Warren had to build BoxNation from the ground-up and attract an audience to a channel dedicated solely to boxing, this time he is joining a company who are already entrenched in the world of subscription streaming and have a large, global customer base.

“We ran a sports channel in BoxNation, I've been there, done it and so forth so we know where we are,” he said.

“You have to pay a subscription for TNT, I mean it's multi-sport but this channel [DAZN] has become multi-sport too. They’ve got a lot of stuff around the world and a lot of other sports they're getting involved with and I know what their ambitions are and what they're trying to build on this platform.

“What's good for us, it's committed to boxing and boxing is very sexy at the moment. We’re delivering quality shows on a regular basis, competitive fights and that's why it's on a high.”

Last year, Queensberry signed American pair, super lightweight Brandun Lee, 29-0 (23 KO’s) and amateur stand-out and undefeated super middleweight, Nathan Lugo, 3-0 (3 KOs).

Warren revealed that Queensberry will begin staging shows across the Atlantic and that the three shows announced at Monday’s press conference are indicative of the quality of events that will be available as part of a standard subscription.

“There are a number of American shows which we'll be announcing. There will be pay-per-view shows depending on what the event is but these particular shows that we're announcing are part of their schedule.”

He also addressed rumours that have been circulating British boxing about Queensberry staging 30 shows in 2025.

“No, it's not quite 30. A lot of shows though.”

Last year, Eddie Hearn announced that Matchroom would adopt a different approach and freshen up their DAZN broadcasts in 2025. Hearn declared his interest in staging earlier main events and putting talented youngsters on accelerated paths both in and out of the ring.

Matchroom have kickstarted their British schedule with two streamlined events. In January, European super lightweight champion, Dalton Smith, and Ring Magazine super bantamweight champion, Ellie Scotney, featured on what ended up being a six fight card in Nottingham.

This weekend, Jack Catterall’s interim WBO junior welterweight title fight with Arnold Barboza Jnr will headline an eight fight show from Manchester’s Co-Op Live Arena.

There won’t be a cookie cutter approach to all DAZN boxing events. Queensberry will be taking the formula that has brought them success for years and transporting it onto the new platform.

“Doing what we did on ITV, on Setanta when we were there, on TNT and on here with DAZN. I'm the only one who's promoted on every one of them and built their boxing,” Warren said.

“Where we are now, we made a conscious decision about five, six years ago to focus on certain divisions, especially the heavyweight division. Take [unified champion, Oleksandr] Usyk out of the picture - which is very difficult - but take him out of the picture and all the heavyweights that matter are under our umbrella.

“And that means Usyk’s gotta fight them.’

That formula means that as well as bringing his thriving heavyweight stable - which includes IBF champion, Daniel Dubois and 20 year-old prodigy Moses Itauma - and those crowd pleasing events to DAZN, Warren will also continue to build young fighters through smaller shows.

Many of Britain’s biggest draws and regular headliners aren’t boxers who entered the world of professional boxing on the back of a high profile Olympic run. They are fighters who have put in the hard yards and quietly established themselves.

From Queensberry’s current stable, WBA featherweight champion, Nick Ball, European lightweight champion, Sam Noakes, and the WBO’s number one middleweight contender, Denzel Bentley, are just three fighters who have taken the slow but steady route from the small halls and undercards and gradually worked their way up cards to become legitimate Saturday night headliners.

Talented operators like Ryan Garner, Nathaniel Collins and Royston Barney-Smith are following behind them.

Time and time again, Warren has proven himself to be a master at guiding a fighter through from the beginning of their careers to world level and the partnership with DAZN ensures that that approach is only going to gain momentum.

“Yeah, that's where the guys come from and that's what we do. We don't just come in there, we build fighters. That's what we've always done, we’ve built,” he said.

“We're very conscious that if you're building a house and you want a real good solid house, you've got to have foundations. You need to build up and that's what we do. We invest in young talent. We develop and bring them through. I don't think anybody does it better than us.

“Joe Calzaghe wasn’t an Olympian. Ricky Hatton wasn't an Olympian. Naseem was an Olympian. You go through all of these guys. Tyson Fury wasn't. Sometimes your face doesn't fit.”