Promoter Eddie Hearn suspects Tyson Fury may have suffered permanent damage to his legacy after his poor outing against Francis Ngannou.

England’s Fury barely edged former UFC champion Ngannou of Cameroon with a 10-round split decision win last Saturday night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Fury had to overcome a shocking knockdown in the third round. Indeed, the fight was regarded as a mismatch by most educated observers but it turned out to be a competitive contest.

The sporting world seemed to be in agreement that Fury came away with a diminished reputation, while Ngannou, in a loss, saw his surge. Nevertheless, the win now paves the way for Fury to fight Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight championship, reportedly in February, in Riyadh.

Since then, Hearn, who has long feuded with Fury as Hearn promotes rival and compatriot Anthony Joshua, has not been shy about characterizing Fury’s narrow win as “embarrassing.”

In a more recent interview, Hearn suggested that Fury’s performance against Ngannou may leave an irreparable stain on his legacy.

“Yeah a lot of people have been saying that, ‘Oh, Fury’s let down boxing,’” Fury told FightHubTV. “Listen, if you’re going to be part of those kinds of fights and those kinds of events, if it goes wrong, you’ve got to also understand that it kills your legacy forever. There is an argument that Fury’s legacy could be he lost to a guy that has never boxed before, whereas he is a generational great. Now, can he truly be a generational guy to the likes of [Muhammad] Ali and [Joe] Louis, and right now absolutely not. If he goes and beats Usyk, maybe?

“But he’s still got that night, he’s still got that night that that’s probably the night that people will talk about forever. Pretty embarrassing really. But if you play those games you’ve got to take everything that comes with it. I’m sure he’ll be crying in his $20 or $30 million or whatever he made on Saturday night. I don’t necessarily think it’s bad for boxing but the casuals start to think, ‘What’s going on there?’”

Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.