02-04-2017, 03:44 PM
Duco boss says location for Joseph Parker title defence against Hughie Fury still to be locked in
Joseph Parker won the WBO heavyweight belt with a points decision over Andy Ruiz Jr in Auckland in December.
Joseph Parker's promoters want their man to fight Hughie Fury in New Zealand but say their successful purse bid for the WBO title fight is no guarantee the Kiwi heavyweight's first defence will be on home soil.
Duco Events won the rights to the bout between Parker and mandatory challenger Fury with a bid of a little more than US$3 million (NZ$4.1 million) at World Boxing Organisation headquarters in Puerto Rico on Friday (Saturday NZ time).
The bid was $200,000 more than the number pitched by the promoter of Fury, Frank Warren, and the 60-40 purse split in Parker's favour guaranteed him a pay-day of around $2.4 million regardless of the result.
Hughie Fury is 20-0 as a professional but has not fought since April last year.
WBO president Paco Valcarel had posted on social media that the fight would be in Auckland on April 1.
Duco director David Higgins confirmed early April was their preferred time against the 20-0 Englishman but indicated the location remained less certain.
"The reason we wanted to win was so we would have choice of where, when and what to suit Team Parker but that doesn't mean [the fight will be in New Zealand]," he said, adding the situation would be clearer in around two weeks time.
"This is not without risk. The costs are high and now we are into process of analysing where to hold it and what the revenues and costs are.
"We need to work out what the best option is for the team but fighting at home is nice. We'd be silly not to favour that."
Taking the fight to Samoa, who provided generous funding for Parker's title-securing win against Andy Ruiz Jr in December, was not off the table, while Higgins said Singapore had also expressed interest in playing host.
The likely location, though, if not New Zealand would be Fury's home-town of Manchester.
Parker is yet to fight in the United Kingdom, where the boxing market is booming, and holding the bout there would give the Kiwi valuable exposure ahead of the fight between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko on April 29 for the IBF and WBA heavyweight straps.
Higgins saw the irony in potentially taking the fight to England, especially given his feeling from unsuccessful negotiations that Fury "didn't want to come to New Zealand under any circumstances".
But he reiterated their approach would be to take the best option with regard to risk and return.
"If Joseph beats or knockouts Fury his stocks in the UK will go through the roof and then several mega-events are in the pipeline, including potentially a unification with the winner of Joshua vs Klitschko.
"You could also look at [former champion] Tyson Fury avenging his cousin's loss and taking his title back, you could unify with [WBC champion] Deontay Wilder and there is David Haye.
"Any one of those is a massive event you could hold as soon as June or July."
Asked if Parker was concerned with having home advantage, Higgins did not believe where the bout was would affect their "mentally tough" fighter.
Parker had fought in Germany on a Klitschko under-card and in the US in compiling his 22-0 record and "all over the world" as an amateur, Higgins said.
The 25-year-old from south Auckland and trainer Kevin Barry returned to their Las Vegas training base last weekend and Higgins said they were delighted and relieved to prevail in a purse bid process he described as a highly memorable experience.
After a mountain of number-crunching between himself, fellow Duco director Dean Lonergan and their accountants, Higgins opted not to go to Puerto Rico.
It was important he was not stuck in the air as negotiations rumbled on and although the two parties had not been able to come to terms during the final days and hours, Higgins was "over the moon" all their work had paid off.
"The temptation is to push [your bid] higher and higher, which you inevitably do," he said. "You end up with a figure you think is high enough but also not so high that you will take a bath is your forecasts are wrong.
"We held our nerve and thankfully our budgets, guesstimates and forecasts were accurate and we just managed to just edge them out."
- Stuff
Joseph Parker won the WBO heavyweight belt with a points decision over Andy Ruiz Jr in Auckland in December.
Joseph Parker's promoters want their man to fight Hughie Fury in New Zealand but say their successful purse bid for the WBO title fight is no guarantee the Kiwi heavyweight's first defence will be on home soil.
Duco Events won the rights to the bout between Parker and mandatory challenger Fury with a bid of a little more than US$3 million (NZ$4.1 million) at World Boxing Organisation headquarters in Puerto Rico on Friday (Saturday NZ time).
The bid was $200,000 more than the number pitched by the promoter of Fury, Frank Warren, and the 60-40 purse split in Parker's favour guaranteed him a pay-day of around $2.4 million regardless of the result.
Hughie Fury is 20-0 as a professional but has not fought since April last year.
WBO president Paco Valcarel had posted on social media that the fight would be in Auckland on April 1.
Duco director David Higgins confirmed early April was their preferred time against the 20-0 Englishman but indicated the location remained less certain.
"The reason we wanted to win was so we would have choice of where, when and what to suit Team Parker but that doesn't mean [the fight will be in New Zealand]," he said, adding the situation would be clearer in around two weeks time.
"This is not without risk. The costs are high and now we are into process of analysing where to hold it and what the revenues and costs are.
"We need to work out what the best option is for the team but fighting at home is nice. We'd be silly not to favour that."
Taking the fight to Samoa, who provided generous funding for Parker's title-securing win against Andy Ruiz Jr in December, was not off the table, while Higgins said Singapore had also expressed interest in playing host.
The likely location, though, if not New Zealand would be Fury's home-town of Manchester.
Parker is yet to fight in the United Kingdom, where the boxing market is booming, and holding the bout there would give the Kiwi valuable exposure ahead of the fight between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko on April 29 for the IBF and WBA heavyweight straps.
Higgins saw the irony in potentially taking the fight to England, especially given his feeling from unsuccessful negotiations that Fury "didn't want to come to New Zealand under any circumstances".
But he reiterated their approach would be to take the best option with regard to risk and return.
"If Joseph beats or knockouts Fury his stocks in the UK will go through the roof and then several mega-events are in the pipeline, including potentially a unification with the winner of Joshua vs Klitschko.
"You could also look at [former champion] Tyson Fury avenging his cousin's loss and taking his title back, you could unify with [WBC champion] Deontay Wilder and there is David Haye.
"Any one of those is a massive event you could hold as soon as June or July."
Asked if Parker was concerned with having home advantage, Higgins did not believe where the bout was would affect their "mentally tough" fighter.
Parker had fought in Germany on a Klitschko under-card and in the US in compiling his 22-0 record and "all over the world" as an amateur, Higgins said.
The 25-year-old from south Auckland and trainer Kevin Barry returned to their Las Vegas training base last weekend and Higgins said they were delighted and relieved to prevail in a purse bid process he described as a highly memorable experience.
After a mountain of number-crunching between himself, fellow Duco director Dean Lonergan and their accountants, Higgins opted not to go to Puerto Rico.
It was important he was not stuck in the air as negotiations rumbled on and although the two parties had not been able to come to terms during the final days and hours, Higgins was "over the moon" all their work had paid off.
"The temptation is to push [your bid] higher and higher, which you inevitably do," he said. "You end up with a figure you think is high enough but also not so high that you will take a bath is your forecasts are wrong.
"We held our nerve and thankfully our budgets, guesstimates and forecasts were accurate and we just managed to just edge them out."
- Stuff