Tyson Fury has branded Eddie Hearn a "sucker" for his role in the ongoing spat with Sky Sports and Johnny Nelson.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Hearn is in Saudi Arabia ahead of tonight's heavyweight sequel between Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk . The rematch will be shown on Sky Sports Box Office in the UK, despite Joshua pledging his long-tern future to streaming service DAZN.
Hearn's decision to leave Sky for DAZN last summer soured the relationship between the two teams which include Sky Sports analyst Nelson, and tensions have appeared high during fight week in the Middle East. Hearn and Nelson have exchanged verbal barbs via interviews, with the Matchroom kingpin accusing Nelson of being a "company man".
WARNING: Strong language
And heavyweight champion Fury has hit out at all involved in a lengthy Instagram video, in which he says: "The funniest thing I have seen in a long time is how the whole of Matchroom, Eddie Hearn and the whole of Sky, Adam Smith, Johnny Nelson and everybody are all at each others throats.
"This is because they have all split up and they are arguing like cat and mouse, they are all arguing like a lot of children and once upon a time they were all stuck up each others a****. And now if they had anything on each other they would be grassing each other up like little b*****. I have never seen anything like it in my life.
"All of you ought to be ashamed of yourselves you little p****holes, no loyalty in the game and it is all about who can get what. What a load of suckers and you should just be called idiots." Fury has been long term rivals with Hearn and Joshua, but once came close to signing with the promoter which would have seen him take a different career path.
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Hearn had a long and successful relationship with Sky Sports, with the pair working together to revive the British boxing scene in the modern era in the UK. The likes of Nelson and Smith were staples on Hearn's coverage of events, and were ever-present in the entire of Joshua's professional career.
However Hearn was unimpressed with Nelson's claim that Joshua should retire and hit out at the former cruiserweight. 'Listen, I’ve been there,' Hearn told iFL TV. 'You’ve got company men, so it’s whatever suits you. A couple of months ago, when AJ was signing with Sky, this guy was the greatest heavyweight on the planet, he could beat Tyson Fury, he’s going to take it to Oleksandr Usyk. Now, it’s like, let’s take pictures of Usyk with hearts everywhere. If AJ loses, all of a sudden he’s pledged his long-term future to DAZN."
