Eddie Hearn has hit out at Tyson Fury for his mocking outburst aimed at Anthony Joshua.
Joshua attempted to exact revenge against Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia last month, but the Ukrainian prevailed for a second consecutive fight by split decision. Joshua acted out of frustration following the final bell, embarking on an X-rated outburst before holding back tears during the post-fight press conference.
When the fight finished, Fury immediately took to social media to deliver his verdict, shouting: "I'll be honest guys, after watching that, both of them were s****. It was one of the worst heavyweight title fights I have ever seen; it was bulls***. I would annihilate both of them on the same night... f***ing s****. Get your f***ing chequebook out because the Gypsy King is here to stay forever."
However Hearn believes that Fury should have shown more sympathy to Joshua given his own mental health problems which saw him take time away from the ring. "He wasn't really talking about the fight he was laughing about the fight," Hearn said when assessing Fury's reaction to Joshua's defeat in an interview with iFL TV. "People should be allowed an opinion.
"But I just see it sometimes as fake. If you have been through these times that you talk about and you see someone going through those tough times in front of your eyes. I just feel you would be a little more sympathetic. If you are rivals and you don't like him and you want to goad him and laugh at his expense I get that too as it works both ways.
"I just feel like if you are seeing someone going through a situation that has signs of being similar that you might be a bit more empathetic. But maybe we are in the wrong game although it was so instant, but it is boxing and there is a lot of emotion. I just think it was difficult not to give encouragement to Joshua in that order."
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Joshua was left devastated after the final bell and stormed out of the ring before slamming his rival's belts to the ground. He then launched into his infamous rant where he attempted to defend his defeat, before assessing his loss in a more composed manner at the press-conference.
And 'AJ' has admitted his speech came from the heart and was filled with emotion after back-to-back defeats. "When you try and do things from the heart... it was from the heart," he said at the post-fight press conference. I knew I was mad at myself, not at anyone, just at myself. I thought I had to get out of there because I was mad. Like anyone, when you're mad you might do stupid things. Then I realised, 'S*** it's a sport, let's do the right thing and come back'."
