Eddie Hearn has this week revealed who he has the best relationship with of all the fighters he’s worked with, and his answer was perhaps unsurprisingly former world champion turned DAZN pundit, Tony Bellew.
Hearn appeared on the Big Fish podcast when host Spencer Matthews asked him who, of all the boxers to have fought under the Matchroom banner, did Hearn believe himself to have gotten closest to over the years.
“Probably Tony Bellew. He was a kid we picked up from a rough part of Liverpool when he was on the breadline in terms of his career. He was making small money and then we went on a great journey together.”
“He won the world championship at Goodison Park, beat David Haye twice, and fought Oleksandr Usyk. To see someone from that background go on that journey and become world champion and to also leave the sport with their faculties in place, properties paid for and just a life they could never have imagined – it’s just an extension of sport.”
Now that Bellew is part of DAZN’s broadcast team, he probably spends more time with Hearn in retirement than ever did when he was an active fighter in the Matchroom stable.
The two can often be seen joking around in interviews together and recently appeared as a duo on the KFC Wingmen series on YouTube.
One fighter who almost certainly doesn’t rival Bellew’s relationship with Hearn is current cruiserweight champion Laurence Okolie.