Warren warns against Flintoff 'car crash'

Leading British boxing promoter Frank Warren has labelled former England cricket captain Andrew Flintoff's professional ring debut as "car crash television".

Flintoff, the star of England's 2005 Ashes triumph, has applied for his boxing licence and is due to fight at Manchester's MEN Arena on November 30 against an as yet unnamed opponent.

BoxNation, a company in which Warren is involved, will screen the 34-year-old's first bout but the veteran promoter said: "For me it's car crash television, I'll be blunt about it.

"I'm not taking anything away from him, it's being shown on BoxNation which I'm involved in, but I won't be promoting it." Meanwhile David Price, the British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion, was slightly more positive. "Freddie (Flintoff) is as entitled as anyone to try it out and some people come to professional boxing later in life," Price said.

"But if it's just some type of PR stunt then it's disrespectful to boxing.

"The reality is he could get hurt if there's someone in front of him who'll stand up and throw punches back.

AFP