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£30k payout for Frank Warren over fixing claim

By PA Mediapoint

Boxing promoter Frank Warren today accepted £30,000 compensation over a claim that he fixed the outcome of a featherweight title clash.

Warren had sued over an article in the Daily Record in March about John Simpson’s loss to Derry Matthews in Liverpool.

His solicitor-advocate, Hanna Basha, told Mr Justice Eady in London that the story alleged that he fixed the bout and, in breach of the rules, met the fight referee the evening before.

“The allegations are untrue in their entirety. Mr Warren in no way influenced, or sought to influence, the outcome of this bout. Indeed Mr Warren was not even in Liverpool on the weekend in question,” she said.

Scottish Daily Record and Sunday Mail Ltd accepted there was no truth whatsoever in the allegations and had agreed to pay compensation and costs.

Warren’s solicitors said later that the newspaper had paid £30,000 in compensation together with his legal costs.

Also, at the High Court today, Warren accepted a public apology from The Random House Group Ltd in relation to a libel action over the autobiography of Ricky Hatton, the former light-welterweight IBF world champion, who Warren managed and promoted from 1997 to 2004.

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Basha said this version of the book, which had been withdrawn from publication, alleged incorrectly that, in April 2003, Warren had misled boxer Vince Phillips about the sale ofthe television rights in relation to his fight with Hatton.

She added that the court would assess what sum – if any – in damages should be paid in relation to this publication after completion of the promoter’s pending libel action in relation to other parts of the book with which Warren took issue but which were being defended by Random House.

Warren was not in court for the brief hearing.

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