EXCLUSIVE
Barry Hearn has promoted the best of the bunch, but a surprise name stands out as the best.
Hearn created Matchroom Sport, a mammoth promotional company which has launched into boxing and become one of the biggest organisations in the space.
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During his time in boxing, Hearn alongside his son Eddie, have promoted some mammoth names including boxing legends Chris Eubank, Lennox Lewis and modern era great Anthony Joshua.
Despite seeing a wealth of groundbreaking talent lace up their gloves in person, Hearn revealed to talkSPORT.com that Mexican star Jose Luis Lopez is the best fighter he has seen in the flesh.
"The best fighter I ever had or saw was Jose Luis Lopez," he said in an exclusive chat.
"He was a Mexican fighter who beat Eamonn Loughran for the world welterweight title.
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"I picked him as an easy opponent because he had three or four losses on his record, but if I had have looked deeper I'd have seen he was 13 or 14-years-old.
"Unfortunately he had a lifestyle that didn't go with professional boxing.
"He's the best fighter I've ever seen in training, people used to just stand around and watch him.
"But in truth it was a shame because he'd rather go surfing and smoke marijuana."
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Lopez was hand picked due to his professional record, but pulled off a monumental upset by beating Loughran in 1986 in Liverpool, flooring him three times.
He claimed the WBA welterweight world title, and went on in his most famous outing to draw with Ike Quartey in October 1997.
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The belt was then vacated and his final title challenge came against James Page in December 1998, which he lost before retiring in 2005.
He then returned for three final fights in 2010, but hung up his gloves again with a professional record of 51 wins with five defeats and two draws.
Hearn most famously worked with Eubank, who was his most high-profile star, and had a phenomenal career reigning as a world champion in two weight classes.
The Brentwood promoter also worked with former undisputed heavyweight champion Lewis, who was last to complete the feat in 1999.
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He went on to cement his name in the history books as one of the greatest fighters to have ever graced the blue-riband division.
In the present day his stable Matchroom Boxing promotes two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, with son Eddie taking the full reigns of his career.
AJ has become a global superstar, and has touched gloves with some huge names including Wladimir Klitschko and Oleksandr Usyk.
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