10-24-2016, 10:57 AM
Joseph Parker's world title fight could switch to US as tight timeframe hinders NZ promotion
Joseph Parker's shot at the WBO heavyweight title might shift to the United States if his Kiwi backers can't fund a promotion in New Zealand.
Joseph Parker's historic world heavyweight title fight in New Zealand is under threat with contingency plans to switch the event to the United States already being made.
Duco Events and Top Rank, the promoters of Parker's opponent Andy Ruiz, have agreed Auckland as the preferred venue for December 10.
But the reality of organising an event of this magnitude in such a short time frame is already biting and could see the Kiwis reluctantly hand over hosting rights to Top Rank boss Bob Arum, who has raised the prospect of Mexican Ruiz and his Hispanic popularity drawing a crowd of up to 80,000 at the home of the Dallas Cowboys in Texas.
Duco have less than two weeks to come up with a venue and the financial guarantees or the fight rights will be handed to Arum.
Arum is promoting Manny Pacquiao"s WBO welterweight defence against Jessie Vargas in Las Vegas next month and wants to announce details of the Ruiz versus Parker fight at a breakfast there on November 5 in front of the world boxing media.
"I made a deal with Duco that they have first option to do the fight in New Zealand and I stand by that," Arum told Fairfax Media from Las Vegas.
"But if Dean Lonergan tells me for any reason he is unable or doesn't want to do the fight in New Zealand, we are ready to do the fight in the United States without any question.
"We are ready, willing and able ... it would be a blessing to have the fight held in the United States. I know it will generate huge interest here."
Arum said the sensible business decision would be to cash in on the Hispanic markets in Las Vegas, California or Texas and he highlighted his "very strong" friendship with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
"That would be a tremendous place for a fight," Arum said, noting Mexican Canelo Alvarez had just won the WBO super welterweight against Britain's Liam Smith in front of 50,000 fans at the Jones' AT&T Stadium, which has a retractable roof.
"The ball is in Dean's court, he has the first option to do the fight. But I'm ready if he can't."
Lonergan said they wouldn't give up hosting rights lightly, especially with the home advantage that would give Parker. But they also had to be commercially sensible.
"The time frame is the issue," he conceded as he returned to New Zealand after getting the fight be sanctioned at the WBO annual conference in Puerto Rico.
"We are in discussions with a huge array of people. But they all have to come together in a very tight space of time.
"Obviously it's a massive event, it's a historical event for New Zealand and it's something that David Higgins and myself are incredibly keen to make happen.
"But we are first and foremost a business and it has to be commercially viable. We have to raise seven figures to make this thing work and that's never been done on a boxing match here before.
"We might break it down and say, if it makes a loss, it makes a loss and we have to suck it up.
"We would much prefer to have the fight here and in the long term interests of Joseph Parker we want to give him any advantage we can to win this fight. But at the end of the day we have fiscal responsibilities to worry about.
"If we can't make it happen here and Bob wants to take the commercial risk, well, so be it ... we'll shrug our shoulders and move on.
"For Bob it's just another world title fight, He's probably done hundreds of them. But for us, it's a big deal."
A shift to the US would give Top Rank the global broadcast rights, though Duco would handle the New Zealand, Australia and Polish rights.
Lonergan was angry at the event being turned into a political football after confirmation of an application for funding via government agency New Zealand Major Events.
Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce said the application would be treated "like any other".
Labour's sport spokesman Trevor Mallard questioned taxpayer involvement in a weekend report: "I'm not sure what sort of extra leverage you would get off a fight. It's not like the scenery of New Zealand is going to be greatly displayed."
Lonergan described the article as "irresponsible" and questioned Mallard's view.
"If Mallard bothered to do any homework, he would realise that Duco controls the TV content and the distribution rights to more than 500m households in around 100 countries. We could put up to 15 to 20 minutes of New Zealand tourism messages into the broadcast content."
Joseph Parker's shot at the WBO heavyweight title might shift to the United States if his Kiwi backers can't fund a promotion in New Zealand.
Joseph Parker's historic world heavyweight title fight in New Zealand is under threat with contingency plans to switch the event to the United States already being made.
Duco Events and Top Rank, the promoters of Parker's opponent Andy Ruiz, have agreed Auckland as the preferred venue for December 10.
But the reality of organising an event of this magnitude in such a short time frame is already biting and could see the Kiwis reluctantly hand over hosting rights to Top Rank boss Bob Arum, who has raised the prospect of Mexican Ruiz and his Hispanic popularity drawing a crowd of up to 80,000 at the home of the Dallas Cowboys in Texas.
Duco have less than two weeks to come up with a venue and the financial guarantees or the fight rights will be handed to Arum.
Arum is promoting Manny Pacquiao"s WBO welterweight defence against Jessie Vargas in Las Vegas next month and wants to announce details of the Ruiz versus Parker fight at a breakfast there on November 5 in front of the world boxing media.
"I made a deal with Duco that they have first option to do the fight in New Zealand and I stand by that," Arum told Fairfax Media from Las Vegas.
"But if Dean Lonergan tells me for any reason he is unable or doesn't want to do the fight in New Zealand, we are ready to do the fight in the United States without any question.
"We are ready, willing and able ... it would be a blessing to have the fight held in the United States. I know it will generate huge interest here."
Arum said the sensible business decision would be to cash in on the Hispanic markets in Las Vegas, California or Texas and he highlighted his "very strong" friendship with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
"That would be a tremendous place for a fight," Arum said, noting Mexican Canelo Alvarez had just won the WBO super welterweight against Britain's Liam Smith in front of 50,000 fans at the Jones' AT&T Stadium, which has a retractable roof.
"The ball is in Dean's court, he has the first option to do the fight. But I'm ready if he can't."
Lonergan said they wouldn't give up hosting rights lightly, especially with the home advantage that would give Parker. But they also had to be commercially sensible.
"The time frame is the issue," he conceded as he returned to New Zealand after getting the fight be sanctioned at the WBO annual conference in Puerto Rico.
"We are in discussions with a huge array of people. But they all have to come together in a very tight space of time.
"Obviously it's a massive event, it's a historical event for New Zealand and it's something that David Higgins and myself are incredibly keen to make happen.
"But we are first and foremost a business and it has to be commercially viable. We have to raise seven figures to make this thing work and that's never been done on a boxing match here before.
"We might break it down and say, if it makes a loss, it makes a loss and we have to suck it up.
"We would much prefer to have the fight here and in the long term interests of Joseph Parker we want to give him any advantage we can to win this fight. But at the end of the day we have fiscal responsibilities to worry about.
"If we can't make it happen here and Bob wants to take the commercial risk, well, so be it ... we'll shrug our shoulders and move on.
"For Bob it's just another world title fight, He's probably done hundreds of them. But for us, it's a big deal."
A shift to the US would give Top Rank the global broadcast rights, though Duco would handle the New Zealand, Australia and Polish rights.
Lonergan was angry at the event being turned into a political football after confirmation of an application for funding via government agency New Zealand Major Events.
Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce said the application would be treated "like any other".
Labour's sport spokesman Trevor Mallard questioned taxpayer involvement in a weekend report: "I'm not sure what sort of extra leverage you would get off a fight. It's not like the scenery of New Zealand is going to be greatly displayed."
Lonergan described the article as "irresponsible" and questioned Mallard's view.
"If Mallard bothered to do any homework, he would realise that Duco controls the TV content and the distribution rights to more than 500m households in around 100 countries. We could put up to 15 to 20 minutes of New Zealand tourism messages into the broadcast content."