Barry Hearn has claimed that he nearly signed Tyson Fury before he turned professional.
Things could have been very different in the heavyweight world.
Fury had many promoters after him but eventually signed with Mick Hennessey before moving onto Frank Warren and Bob Arum.
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And Barry Hearn has revealed it was due to the financials as to why he never signed the huge heavyweight.
Speaking to LuckyBlock.com Hearn said: “I’ll let you in on a secret that not very many people know; I nearly signed Tyson Fury years before he turned professional.”
“I was at a fight in Newcastle. Tyson – big lad, great name. That was my first reaction; big lad, great name. I could see money rolling in.
“John, his dad, said ‘my boy’s going to turn pro. He wants to sign with you. But we want a £100,000 signing fee.’ In those days, and this is going back a number of years, that was a lot of money. I mean, that was like Olympic champion stuff. This kid was untested, but obviously huge.”
Just imagine Fury and Joshua under the same Matchroom banner.
