He had offers from Matchroom, which promoted the popular heavyweight for the entirety of his career, but also a lucrative opportunity with Zuffa Boxing and Dana White.

Loyalty has always meant a lot to Fisher, the history graduate from Romford – the east London area where Barry Hearn founded Matchroom beneath a billiards hall in 1982. So, for 27-year-old Fisher, there was only one man to call for guidance.

“I’m sitting on my settee on Friday night rewatching American Gangster again,” Fisher told The Ring. “And I thought I’d give Barry a ring about what to do. He picked up the phone straight away and we had a good chat. He said, ‘Johnny, you've got to take this offer. You’ve done everything the correct way and we’ve done our job in that sense that you’ve got this offer of a great financial deal, but also a great promotional deal as well.’

“I respect Barry immensely and I’ve been mentored by him a little bit the last two or three years. He’s been helping me out a lot in a financial sense and just giving me good bits of advice. There’s no one better, really, to get advice from. It was good to finally hear his voice as well because I’ve been dealing with Eddie through this process mainly. It’s always good to go to the old man in Barry, who’s been there and done it and seen it all before.”

Barry Hearn, 78, is president of Matchroom. A recent Netflix series about the company shows that he is still very hands-on across all of the company’s sporting endeavors. His son, Eddie, the chairman and managing director of Matchroom Sport, runs its boxing business and was in charge of the packages presented to Fisher regarding his next fight beneath their banner.

Eddie Hearn had been vocal in his criticism of another former Matchroom man, Conor Benn, for what he perceived as poor conduct from the welterweight, who he labeled a dog following a similar switch to Zuffa Boxing. Much of his ire seemed to stem from the fact that Benn had not communicated his decision well enough with Hearn before pulling the trigger.

But, five months on from Benn’s seismic departure, Fisher (14-1, 12 KOs) knew that a seal of approval from Barry Hearn meant there could be no hard feelings.

“To be honest, that was the greatest feeling out of all of it,” Fisher said. “Because you don’t want to go to bed thinking, ‘Have I not communicated well? Have I done it the wrong way?’ I haven’t, but I’ll just always wonder if I have done the best I could? And have I tried to convey my message in the best way?

“All you can do is be true to yourself, but be honest and open with everyone else involved. I’ve got to be true to myself first and foremost, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be honest with the people around you. So yeah, I’ve tried to do it as best I can to be honest with myself, but also to be genuine to everyone else who’s been involved in my career because Matchroom have done a brilliant job with me and I’m forever grateful to them.”

Now Fisher can look forward to September 26 for the first and only fight of his initial deal with Zuffa.

Fisher’s fight against an opponent to be announced will be broadcast live on Sky Sports from London’s Copper Box Arena. He knows a good performance can open the door to a longer partnership with the emerging promotional company.

“It was around March-April time and Eddie had made us some very good offers,” Fisher recalled. “But I was just of the mind that I’m worth a little bit more than that. It’s the principle of knowing what you’re worth. I spoke to Eddie the whole way through and said, ‘Look, I want to just see where the land lies in the context of my worth in the market,’ and then Zuffa came through with a tremendous offer. I would be lying if I didn't say that the financial side of it is a massive part of it. Of course it is. We’re professional boxers and every time we step in the ring, it could be our last time.

“This is a one-fight deal, but that’s what I wanted to start with because I want to see where the land lies after this fight. I’ve got to win this fight – that’s all that matters right now. But the vision that they’ve got for after that is a tremendous one. So that gives me motivation to do well in this fight and to win at the Copper Box in good style. Then the vision that Sky and Zuffa have for not just me, but world boxing in general, is something that I want to be a part of.”