You won't find Frank Warren joining political (or should that be politically correct?) leaders Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg wearing one of those cringe-worthy T-shirts proclaiming: "This is what a feminist looks like".

Indeed, the veteran British boxing promoter has really raised the hackles of the right-on brigade by declaring that women boxers "don't float my boat" and that in his view boxing is not a sport for women.

I know this is an opinion Warren has held for some time and it is by no means a singular one in the fight game particularly among leading promoters, managers and male boxers.

The now retired world heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko has remarked that the thought women slugging it out in the ring "makes me want to throw up". And I once saw Amir Khan bury his face in a programme at ringside for the duration of an inaugural women's bout at an Amateur Boxing Association of England (ABA) Championships.

Girls, he said later, should stick to tennis.

Now insidethegames readers will be aware that this is not a stance I share.

I have always been a strong advocate of women's right to fight should they wish but I also believe Warren has the right to air his own, if deeply controversial, thoughts on the subject

This he did in his new weekly column for the Independent, attracting a fusillade of angry feminist counter-punching from readers and on radio phone-ins.

Veteran promoter Frank Warren has made a vast contribution to male boxing, but is less keen to make a mark on the women's side ©Getty Images



He then slugged out with the lucid Lucy O'Connor, former European champion and GB boxing captain on BBC Radio 5 live, a debate as fiercely and closely contested as any bout Warren has ever promoted in his 30 years in the business. I thought they fought draw.

Warren says his article was prompted by the death in South Africa last Saturday (October 25) of female boxer Phindile Mwelase, a 31-year-old professional light-welterweight who fell into a coma after being knocked out in a bout in Pretoria on October 10. She sadly never recovered.

It certainly seemed especially tragic as it was the third fatality for a South Africa sportsperson in less than four days after the runner Mbulaeni Mulaudzi was killed in a car crash and the national football captain, goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa, was murdered by robbers at his girlfriend's home on Sunday (October 26) night. All this in the wake of the Oscar Pistorius affair.

As Warren pointed out, inevitably female participation in boxing now will be under intense scrutiny when the International Boxing Association (AIBA) Women's World Championships begin in Jeju City, South Korea, next week, with Hartlepool's Savannah Marshall bidding to become the first ever British women to become a two-time world champion.

"I wish her and the other Brits well, but it is not an event I will be following," he wrote.

"I make no bones about it. I don't like women's boxing. Never have and never will. I admire anyone who does any sport at whatever level and some women like to express themselves through boxing, but I've never hidden the fact that I am not a fan.

"It is not male chauvinism because I'm all for equality in sport and in life but I am just not comfortable seeing girls attempting to belt bits off each other in the ring, no more than I am knowing they are now fighting on the front line in wars.

"For one thing I worry about the effect being repeatedly hit in the stomach might have on their reproductive system. There have been cases of women boxers turning up at a weigh-in and found to be pregnant. Obviously they were not allowed to fight but what was happening to their bodies all the sparring sessions beforehand?"

London 2012 flyweight champion Nicola Adams is the best known female boxer on British shores, having also won a Commonwealth Games gold medal at Glasgow 2014
©Getty Images






However, Warren does admit that what Nicola Adams did in the Olympics was "absolutely brilliant" though he says he would not choose to watch her fight nor to promote her should she turn professional.

"Call me an old git, but that's how I see it. It is probably a generation thing because my sons Francis and George, who work with me on Queensberry Promotions, say they would happily put female boxers on the bill.

"Okay, so Nicola has shown us there is more to women's boxing  than just handbags at ten paces but I do not believe it is something the average fan would pay to watch. As a promoter I don't think it is commercially viable in this country.

"The interest is not there, and never has been going back to the days when Jane Couch was a pioneer female professional. She was always pressing me to promote her but I declined."

That was certainly a brave decision as I recall that the feisty "Fleetwood Assassin" once flattened a bloke in a Blackpool bar when he kept patting her bum after she asked him to stop!

I do agree with Warren that it something of an anomaly that AIBA, the international body which brought women's boxing into the London Olympics, has ordered headguards for male boxers in major tournaments to be removed but say women must still wear them. "Their apparent reasoning is that spectators don't like to see girls getting hit in the face," says Warren. "Well, I don't like to see them getting hit anywhere.

"I'm not saying the only place for women in the ring is carrying the round cards. Good luck to the ladies who punch.If they want to fight each other, that's their choice, as it mine is not to watch it."

Fair enough.

I doubt whether Savannah Marshall and her fellow GB flag-flyers will be fazed by Frank's frankness. They've heard all the arguments and are still in there punching.

Savannah Marshall will be seeking to become the first two-time female British world champion on Jeju Island in South Korea next week ©Getty Images



At 23 six-footer Savannah, is no longer quite as shy as a couple of years  ago when team-mates dubbed her "The Silent Assassin" because of her impressive knock-out record and dislike of interviews. She will be accompanied to Jeju Island by flyweight Lisa Whiteside, lightweight Chantelle Cameron and light-welterweight Sandy Ryan from GB Boxing's Podium Potential squad.

All four boxers will compete for England and will be joined by 2014 European Championship silver medallist, Stacey Copeland, who has been selected by England Boxing at welterweight (69kg).

They are now preparing for the tournament at a training camp in Japan, along with the Wales team of lightweight Charlene Jones and Commonwealth Games middleweight bronze medallist, Lauren Price.

With London 2012 gold medallist Adams and fellow Olympian Natasha Jonas absent following respective shoulder and foot surgery - word is that Adams' next bout will be with other contests in the "I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!" ITV reality show - the focus will be on Marshall.