They are an important piece of the boxing machine. They are powerful figures in the backrooms of our greasy sport. Their natural habitat is sitting in an office across from people they perceive as weak, and then working out how to drain every single ounce of remaining life from them. No-one becomes a successful boxing promoter without feeding on at least some of their own siblings in the womb. They are utterly ruthless, money-driven, emotionless, reptiles, with no heartbeats or the ability to taste anything other than fresh blood. Yet without them the sport would be a freak show consigned to car parks and bar room brawls. We owe promoters, and when they speak we should listen. Right?

 

Sixty percent of anything is the bigger slice. Sixty percent of ten million dollars is more money than you or I will see in our waking hours. Ever. It’s also rumoured to be the split Tyson Fury will deal with in his final trilogy fight against Deontay Wilder: a man so emotionally damaged that some people are saying he believes he’s a Roman Emperor and is surviving solely on anchovy paste and old wine.

 

Eddie Hearn thinks sixty percent is a paltry deal for Tyson Fury.

 

“There are bigger problems in this situation if you’re Fury and you’ve put in the performance of a career and won the WBC heavyweight belt, because you want more money in a rematch,” said a not-in-any-way-bitter Hearn.

 

“That probably won’t happen because there won’t be as much money generated so he’s not going to be happy.”

 

As for Anthony Joshua, Hearn had this to say: “Anthony had a great year last year in many ways. He fought in Madison Square Garden in New York and then in Saudi Arabia, but now he’s back at Spurs on June 20 in a great stadium.

 

“It’s going to be an instant sell-out and great to see him back.”

 

In a nutshell, Hearn says his man is doing well, and Fury a) is getting ripped off and, b) won’t sell as many PPV’s this time around anyhow. But what a boxing promoter says and what they think are two very different things. Even a Bull Shark doesn’t broadcast anything except calmness and serenity until the moment is right. Eddie Hearn is simply playing the game in the same way. He’s dirtying Fury’s chances and pouring warm honey on his own man; if he could turn just one person from paying for Fury Vs. Wilder and diverting that cash into Joshua Vs. Pulev then, hey, why not? Keep the AJ flag flying; turn the people back onto riding the handsome hero train instead of flirting with the Gypsy King.

 

What we all know, though don’t tell him, is that Hearn would sign Fury in a heartbeat. It’s in a promoter’s natural instinct to follow the smell of money to the source. And when he gets there, well, it’s only nature.

 

Politics. Boxing. Play us, Eddie. Play us.