Latest interview with Mick Hennessy reveals a lot of resentment and hurt regarding being frozen out by Fury, calls it a 'betrayal' and 'hurtful'. For Mick to keep going after all he's been through investing in Froch and both Fury's only to be shafted at the final bell shows great strength of character and resilience. Is Mick the victim here or is it simply business? Should he have been kept on even if only in a ceremonial role? This content is protected This content is protected
He steered Fury to a world title and did a good job alongside Big Peter and Big John to put a stop to Klitschko’s tomfoolery in softening the ring canvas. He generated very impressive numbers on Channel 5 for the British title fight between Hughie and Sexton. Above all he (allegedly) remortgaged his house to finance the Parker-Hughie fight. Sounds like a guy who tries damn hard for his fighters and who has just suffered from a poor bargaining position. You know Hearn really only landed the exclusive Sky deal because of his father’s connections? Mick is a good man and a solid promoter.
You have to feel from him as he put In so much leg work only for Fury to walk away once the big money appeared on the table. Fury bangs on about loyalty but that doesn't matter to him when he sniffs a pound note.
It does seem from the interview that Mick doesn't hold any ill feeling towards Peter or Hughie as he speaks highly of both but Tyson leaving has really hurt him. I guess from Fury's prospective he wanted a clean break and the Peter/Hughie situation complicated things. It would be interesting to hear about Mick's relationship with Warren and if he had a hand cutting him out but I would have liked to seen him at least kept on Tyson's entourage as a 'wise elder' background figure (possibly dressed in a lion skin robe). It's easy to poke fun at Mick as he is an easy target but the reality is he was on a great run in the early 2010's with Froch (WBC+S6), Barker, Witter, Eubank, DeGale, Galahad, Murray, Fury and many others fighting on free to air TV. His contribution to British boxing is massively under appreciated and he never had the multi million pound backing that Warren (Bill Ives) and silver spoon Hearn had.
Spud stuck on some great fights on Channel 5 and his downfall appears due to a simple principle - all eggs in the Fury basket. Bit like his waistline, he needs some width and depth in his stable and hopefully he learns from this experience and comes back stronger.
Froch moved to Hearn towards the end of the Super 6. The final was promoted in part by Matchroom and Carl left Hennessy just before the Johnson fight. I’d also raise questions about the job Hennessy did with Froch. People can say he got Froch a world title. Did he, or did Froch get himself a world title? Froch was ultimately an exceptionally popular fighter with a strong local following and had many great fights, but from a promotional point of view you have to raise questions: No UK television deal for his first world title defence against Taylor. Best Mick could offer was a stream and an ITV4 repeat on Sunday night. Terrible organisation of the Dirrell fight which had hours of dead time and ended up taking place in the middle of the night. Carl, despite the aforementioned popularity, continuously having to box on the road. And this was hardly ‘Carl goes to Vegas.’ It was Connecticut, Herning, Helsinki and New Jersey. I’m sure Mick is a nice guy and loves boxing but he’s a crap promoter. You can’t be a promoter and moan about not getting a television deal and suchlike. That’s your job.
It's clearly a **** business...but its a business. A fighter isn't going to risk his life every right for peanuts when someone is waving real money at him. Nobody on earth would.
But Fury isn't in it for the money, he's a fighting man and values loyalty first. As shown as he donated his Wilder purse to an unknown unverifiable charity.
The games changed and left Mick behind. If I was Mick would adapt and look to sign a stable of fighters and try to co-promote alongside the big boys. If he signed a range of decent prospects he could do deals like the one Fury has with Matchroom and try to co-promote. Only have to look at the likes of Di Bella and Salita and K2 etc to see how its done. If I was him I would look to sign a range of prospects who havent yet turned over and a raft of Heavys both amateur and existing pros as they will be in demand worldwide and you never know if you will unearth a gem. Not too long ago could have got Bakole, Takam etc on deals. The issue is I think Mick doesnt have the heart for it anymore. He also hasnt been the greatest at actually promoting his fighters and events in terms of building their profiles
