The manner in which months of negotiations for WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua to unify the division in a winner-takes-all clash with WBC titleholder Tyson Fury fell apart over the last week led to groans and facepalms across the boxing community. But some veterans of the industry were not surprised at all.
Mick Hennessy, a British promoter who worked with Fury for years and oversaw his maiden world title win in Dusseldorf that ended the long dominance of Wladimir Klitschko, told Sky Sports that Deontay Wilder's arbitration was always going to be a serious roadblock that simply could not be ignored.
Fury took the WBC crown from Wilder in February 2020 after their first encounter ended in a draw. The American had a rematch clause to force a trilogy but after the COVID-19 pandemic made booking that third fight difficult, Fury and his current promoters Bob Arum and Frank Warren felt as though they could simply walk away from it, with Arum claiming the clause expired in October.
The arbiter disagreed, and the ruling left egg on the faces of all involved just as August 14 in Saudi Arabia appeared to be the finalised date for Joshua vs. Fury.
Hennessy said: "I wasn't surprised one little bit really, because you've got to realise that Deontay Wilder has got very, very capable and extremely professional people in Shelly Finkel and Al Haymon and although they haven't joined the circus, they've been sitting in the background, doing their due diligence, and not mouthing off.
"They've been quietly working away in the background and when you know how good and how capable these people are - I knew something like this was going to come out, 100 per cent.
"I knew it, so it didn't surprise me in the least."
Hennessy, who still works with Tyson's nephew Hughie, added that Arum and co's choices went against basic promoter protocol.
"Would I have done something different? Yeah, 100 per cent," he said.
"You can't put deals together while there is an arbitration in place. That's way too presumptuous. It's crazy.
"Maybe during that period, if they were able to fight in other fights, especially Joshua.
"Joshua could have been working this whole time, couldn't he."