---
title: "Frank Warren On Getting Shot In The Chest – ‘I Thought It Was A Joke’"
canonical: "https://boxing-social.com/news/frank-warren-on-getting-shot/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Kerr Ferguson"
section: "News"
published: "2022-09-10T15:50:51Z"
modified: "2022-09-10T21:07:36Z"
---

# Frank Warren On Getting Shot In The Chest – ‘I Thought It Was A Joke’

Frank Warren’s been around the block in boxing, promoting superstars including Chris Eubank, Joe Calzaghe, and, [most recently, Tyson Fury](https://wp.boxing-social.com/news/tyson-fury-talks-about-legacy/) – but his time in the game hasn’t been without its low points.

Perhaps the most serious moments in a career spanning 40 years involved violence that wasn’t controlled or regulated in a ring. [Speaking to Dermot O’Leary on his People, Just People podcast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NijQJ6Cf-pg&t=96s), the hall of fame promoter recalled being shot outside a small-hall show in London.

> “I had a show on at Barking \[London\]. It was only the last minute I went, I wasn’t actually going to go. I went to it, got out the car, heard a bang go off and I thought it was a car backfiring. I looked round and then I see this bloke standing there jiggling around \[with a\] mask on and his hand was shaking. And I genuinely thought it was a joke, then I heard a click – something must’ve gone wrong.
>
> Next minute I heard another bang, that missed, then another bang and I realised. As I turned away the bullet hit me here \[right side of chest\]. So it went in there – if I’d been \[straight\] on it would’ve probably gone through my heart – but it went out. And that was it.”

Warren went on to describe the immediate aftermath, including a dear friend and an ironically named hospital.

> “My partner at the time, still a good friend of mine obviously, called John Botros, he jumped on him. He was a barrister, I’m godfather to his children, he’s a real good friend. He just jumped on him – the fella’s got a gun, how brave was he?”
>
> “I just felt all my lungs filling up. You know like gurgling because of the blood in the lungs. And that was it. Next minute I’m in the back of a police van because the ambulance strike was on and they took me to the appropriately named Shooter’s Hill Hospital.”

A 9mm bullet passed through the promoter’s body that day, reportedly missing his heart by an inch. In the wake of it all he lost half a lung and part of his ribs. The man in the balaclava remains unknown.