Speaking ahead of his June 9th return to the ring from a two and a half year absence, Fury was asked why he decided to sign a contract with Warren and BT Sport over fighting on Sky with Hearn and Matchroom.
“It’s true – I wanted a lot of money. Getting the Gypsy King in the ring to dance costs a lot,” Fury told FightHype.com
“I was happily retired, 27 stone with a hell of cash and I didn’t need to come back but boxing needed me. So to get me out of retirement, I needed a God damn lot of money and Eddie Hearn could not afford it.”
Elaborating further, Fury added: ‘They call him Frank the Magic Man and I needed a little bit of magic to get back to the top.
“And plus he’s a good guy, he’s a boxing hall of fame promoter, which Eddie Hearn is not.”
The quotes will come as a blow to Hearn on the back of a $1 billion deal with Perform to showcase fighters stateside on the DAZN platform.
Fury was one of Hearn’s top targets as a massive clash with Anthony Joshua was pencilled in for 2019 or 2020.
That fight could now be very hard to make as Warren and Hearn notoriously find it hard to work together, whilst Joshua is attempting to become undisputed king in 2018 – a move which could back Fury into a corner.
Ambitions of regaining his belts mean Joshua will be the focus of Fury at some point over the next twelve months, although Warren and Hearn’s contrasting TV deals could put a stop to negotiations before they’ve begun in earnest.
