Tyson says some nutty stuff, but he's the biggest thing since Ali

FRANK WARREN was 14 when he first got the taste for heavyweight boxing. 

- Matt Majendie

Tuning in the family television set in 1966, he watched in awe as Muhammad Ali knocked out Cleveland Williams inside just three rounds. From that moment, he knew he wanted to be involved in boxing - ideally with the heavyweights in some capacity.

Despite more than five decades in the sport as a promoter, Warren still finds it surreal that he is now one of the puppeteers of one of the biggest fights and with the multi-millions being discussed certainly the richest heavyweight one as Tyson Fury takes on Oleksandr Usyk in Riyadh on Saturday.

"I remember the older generation didn't like Muhammad Ali," he recalls. "They thought he was an upstart, but he was exciting to watch, a great personality and a funny man, a very funny man. He was the hero of a generation or two. I absolutely loved him." More than half a century later, he draws comparisons between Ali and his own charge, Fury, likening both their characters and their universal appeal.