OVER the past 40 years Barry Hearn has pretty much seen everything and defeated most contenders at the top of his game.

Yet one of Britains most famous and successful sports promoters reckons the Covid-19 pandemic is becoming the biggest challenge he has faced.

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Hearn told SunSport: Its worst thing Ive come across in 40 years of promoting sport around the world.

Yet Hearn, 71, could be the man to help fix our thirst for sport by looking outside of the box and upping plans to stream more snooker and darts events behind closed doors.

His Matchroom organisation promotes sports like boxing, darts, snooker, golf, gymnastics, pool, fishing and ping pong.

Hearn says Anthony Joshuas planned heavyweight title fight with Kubrat Pulev will take place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, June 20.

However if the Governments strategy to ban mass gatherings continues until this summer, the fight will NOT go ahead.

Anybody who has a ticket can apply for a refund if the fight is subsequently postponed.

Otherwise punters should keep hold of their tickets because they will be valid for when the event is rescheduled.

Premier League Darts will go ahead in Newcastle on Thursday assuming mass gatherings are still permitted then although the double-header in Rotterdam has been shifted to September on local advice.

Hearn also says the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible will start on April 18 unless, again, Government rules change.

Yet he maintains there would be no appeal to staging snooker without fans present at the iconic venue in Sheffield.

In an exclusive interview, Hearn revealed his golden rule is delay not cancel and acknowledges he has a responsibility to thousands of people who earn a living through sport.

So behind the scenes he will create alternative ways to put on sporting tournaments.

Hearn, whose company look after 650 event days globally, said: We are operating under Government guidelines.

Were monitoring this daily because it can change at any time.

Its so difficult because you dont know if were in this situation for months or a year. Weve no idea.

Im fire-fighting on a daily basis. The danger is you destroy the whole infrastructure of sport.

Less well-known players, smaller football clubs, smaller sports, they might not be necessarily funded well enough to survive a long-term lay-off.

The knock-on effects for society are disastrous.

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Sportsmen and women are self-employed. If they dont play they dont get paid. They have mortgages and children.

While I want everyone to be healthy, I do understand people have to go to work and earn their living.

I am mindful we are responsible for the livelihoods of thousands of sportspeople around the world.

Thats something I have to look at when I make decisions about behind closed doors or cancelling. This is not the rainy-day fund this is a disaster day.

Itll cost us money, but thats the last thing on my mind. We want to continue to provide entertainment and provide a livelihood for our players.

But everyone will have to be prepared for a change in circumstances. We dont cancel. We delay.

Our primary objective is to keep the show on the road, provided peoples health is not at risk.

Where possible we will provide playing opportunities for our players and in some cases, thinking outside the box.

We are looking at contingency plans to create new events.

Of course were always thinking of ideas whatever the circumstances and the question is can you create a workable financial model?

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Ratings in China, for instance, are going through the roof. So is there something else we can come up with?

At the moment we can carry on with snooker and darts, though there will be some cancellations. But, obviously it is better if you have a live audience.

The only way our players get paid is if they are playing in tournaments so they will be keen for us to come up with ideas.

Is there something we can do for the pay TV audience when there is no other sport on?

We wont be making any knee-jerk decisions, but there is a lot you can do with darts, snooker, ping pong and fishing.

Hearn says nobody at Matchroom has shown signs or been tested positive for coronavirus.

More here:

Barry Hearn thinks coronavirus pandemic is toughest challenge hes faced in four-decade career - The Sun