The Matchroom promoter, 46, has admitted he was initially nervous when it came to bringing on ‘AJ’, 35, following the boxer’s glory at the 2012 London Olympic Games, as Hearn had told him to consider all of his options before signing on with him.

Speaking in his Netflix documentary Matchroom: The Greatest Showmen, Hearn said: “Anthony Joshua is definitely the most important figure in our boxing business ... ever.

“He became Olympic champion in 2012 and every promoter in boxing wanted to represent this man ... the race was on to sign Anthony Joshua.

“Anthony is a deep thinking, he is a gatherer of information and I never heard from him and I thought, 'what have you done?'

“Then I got a message saying he wanted to come back in. He said, ‘I've met everyone and I want to sign with you’, that changed out company forever and we've shared some moments with AJ.”

Hearn’s 77-year-old father Barry - who is the founder and president of Matchroom - added he too was desperate to sign Joshua.

He said: “I was desperate to sign him straight away and Eddie said no. Give him some time, let him come to us.

“It was about a year and Joshua had been around every operator in the world.”

Joshua has stuck with the Hearns ever since he inked his deal with them in October 2013, and Joshua has nothing but respect for the pair.

He said: “Matchroom are family run business, Barry, the Godfather, what he's achieved coming from a council estate like myself, I take my hat off to him. One thing I do want is to buy that house, the Matchroom office from him, that's one of my goals.

“Eddie is good at what he does and I'm good at what I do. I'm like the artwork that goes on the wall and Eddie's there to sell the art, but if I was a bad boxer, Eddie would not make the time for me.”