DUBLIN, Ireland -- Katie Taylor and Eddie Hearn go back a decade.
The promoter said this week he was in "floods of tears" watching a promo for her final fight at Croke Park against Flora Pili on Saturday [DAZN, RTE, 10 p.m. UK]. He also revealed they haven't had a contract for "years and years," such is their bond and respect for each other. After the 2016 Olympics, Taylor sat with her mum Bridget, and manager Brian Peters, in Hearn's office to convince the Matchroom boss to sign her.
"I went into that meeting 90% in my mind that I wasn't going to do anything," Hearn says. "[But] she is so fierce. She was sitting there and the way she was talking, the passion, the determination and she was telling me the story about the Olympics and I was like: 'F---', this is unbelievable."
It was a meeting that changed the sport forever. Taylor is now a two-weight undisputed champion, but her greatest achievement is the doors she has opened for others.
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While they have a strong working relationship, Hearn has revealed the two occasions when Taylor called him out over her pay. Supported by a hardcore legion of Irish fans, it was Taylor who was filling arenas with her fans, but wasn't headlining.
She also wasn't getting paid nearly as much as her male counterparts.
"We've had two, I can't call them arguments over the years, but two heated conversations since I signed her," Hearn says. "She fought in Boston and sold out most of the arena on her own."
The headline fight was Demetrius Andrade against Walter Kautondokwa for the vacant WBO middleweight title in October 2018, but in truth, everyone was there for Taylor, who earned a points win over Cindy Serrano, sister of Amanda.
"She came out, the place went nuts, and after the final bell, most of those people went home," Hearn recalls. "The next morning, we went for breakfast. She went: 'Can I ask you a question?'"
Taylor wanted to know how much the men on the card got paid. Hearn stumbled over his words searching for an answer. He knew what was coming.
"I told her. It was probably three times as much as she made.
"She said: 'Do you think that's fair,'" Hearn says. "She said: 'How can I sell more tickets, how can more people be interested in me, how can more people want to tune in and watch me fight and yet he's making three times the money?'"
Hearn responded: "Because he's a man. That's what you need to change. And we're on the way."
The promoter now estimates Taylor earns more than "99%" of male fighters while her impact on the sport will live on for decades.
The second time she confronted Hearn came ahead of the Amanda Serrano rematch. The first was a groundbreaking event when the pair became the first women to headline at Madison Square Garden in the venue's history. The rematch would be the co-main event ahead of Mike Tyson's fight against Jake Paul, live on Netflix.
"We got made an offer by MVP which I thought was incredible," Hearn says. "She was like: 'You think that's fair, do you? You honestly think that's fair after everything I've done, after the first fight?'
"I was like: 'Oh my god.' I went back and got more money out of them. She was right.
"She's been incredible to work with. We haven't had a contract for years and years and years. That's in boxing where you never know who's going to stab you in the back.
"If she did, I'd retire for good because you know it's never going to happen."
Hearn, as with the whole Ireland, is prepared for more tears on Saturday.