‘He had character’ – Anthony Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn sparred father Barry twice when he was younger

BARRY HEARN has revealed son Eddie dropped him twice during a ‘fight’ in the ring.

Matchroom founder Barry believes that tough love as a child made Eddie the success he is today, including promoting former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.

2

And that included arranging a fight between the two because Hearn Junior was going “a little bit of public school.”

Barry was enthusiastic about the resulting sparring as it showed his son “had some character about him”.

He even thinks Eddie was just frustrated that they ended the fight before the third round!

In the meantime, the father-son team has built up a huge sports empire.

And Hearn Sr., 74, explained to the High Performance Podcast how exercise got into his parenting techniques.

He said: “We would play cricket and I wouldn’t hold back.

“When I was younger I was a pretty fast bowler and I would bowl him flat out. It didn’t matter how old he was.

“If you want to be in this game, find out.

“When I thought he was going to go to public school for a little bit, I took him to the gym and we had a proper three-round fight.

“He dropped me twice in the second round and we never had the third round.

“But I left happier than he did because I found out something about my son that I hoped was in him.

“He didn’t swallow it, he had character and he took a few, not many, and gave it out. It was nice.

“He was just disappointed that he didn’t get the chance to do an extra lap!”

2