Frank Warren says he does not want British officials in charge of the Tyson Fury’s heavyweight title fight against Dillian Whyte in the wake of the controversy surrounding the Josh Taylor’s win over Jack Catterall. 

Warren, who will be promoting Fury-Whyte at Wembley Stadium on April 23, has written to the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBoC) saying the decision is “killing the credibility of boxing” and saying that incompetent officials should be downgraded. 

As both Fury and Whyte are British, it would be expected that the referee and all three judges, which would be appointed by the BBBoC, would also be from the UK. 

The British Boxing Board of Control announced yesterday that they would be investigating the judging of the fight that saw Taylor retain his undisputed world super-lightweight title in Glasgow. 

There was widespread anger that Catterall, who had been a huge outsider, was denied what had seemed a clear victory. One judge, Howard Foster, had Catterall the winner by one round, while Victor Loughlin had Taylor a round in front and Ian John-Lewis had the champion three rounds ahead. 

It was the latest in a string of controversial decision in British rings and there has been increasing anger at the Board’s lack of action against officials who are not coming up to scratch. 

“This has to stop, it was terrible for Jack and is killing the credibility of boxing,” Warren wrote. “If they were football referees they would be downgraded but what happens – they move on to the next show without any accountability. 

“I do not want British officials for Fury-Whyte. 

“As our governing body, stop this chummy jobs for the boys and do something for the sake of our sport, the Jack Catteralls, and downgrade these incompetent officials.” 

While there seems no prospect of the Board changing the result of Saturday’s fight, they do have the power to sanction any of the officials if they consider their performance was not up to standard. 

The press conference for Fury-Whyte is due to be held on Tuesday, although there remain doubts about whether Whyte will attend.  

Tickets for the fight go on sale on Wednesday. 

Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.