04-09-2020, 10:40 AM
Joseph Parker v Junior Fa stalls over 'ridiculous' money demands
Duncan Johnstone
Negotiations for an all-Kiwi heavyweight clash between Joseph Parker and Junior Fa have broken down over "ridiculous" pay demands.
Parker's manager David Higgins hasn't written off the juicy clash yet but there will need to be major concessions from the Fa camp for the fight to happen.
"The money they want is ridiculous," Higgins told Stuff.
New Zealand heavyweights Joseph Parker and Junior Fa are eager to fight - if the money is right.
"It's probably 20 times Junior Fa's biggest ever purse. Joseph was willing to fight for less than what Fa is asking and let's not forget Joseph is a former world champion. That's called pricing yourself out.
"I think they are looking for way too much for where they are at. There's a lot at risk here and they obviously see that."
When the possibility of the fight was first aired after Parker's impressive knockout of North American champion Shawndell Winters on March 1, the Fa camp were talking in the range of $1m for their fighter, believing it could be a $3m purse.
Stuff understands Fa's formal request wasn't that figure but it's still out of scale in the eyes of Team Parker.
Higgins remains keen to try to arrange the fight.
"Joseph would look at it if Fa was realistic," Higgins said.
"It's a big fight and there's a big opportunity here with the sport currently in lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic.
"If we made it happen it could be one of the first fights when the sport is given the green light to resume. There's going to be a real demand for live sport again and we could grab that, we could lead the world.
"Everyone has to get their heads together and be realistic."
Joseph Parker's manager David Higgins hopes to keep a fight against Junior Fa alive amongst tricky negotiations.
There has been speculation the fight could be used to debut streaming giant DAZN's entry to the New Zealand market.
Parker fights for DAZN as part of his deal with British promoter Eddie Hearn at Matchroom Boxing.
Parker and Fa share a 2-2 history as amateurs.
Both are ranked highly by the WBO where former champ Parker is at No 2 and Fa is at No 6.
Parker is also at No 6 with the WBC and No 7 with the IBF. Fa doesn't feature in the top 15 of the other major organisations.
Parker has positioned himself well after a frustrating 18 months of low activity and would certainly have other significant international options with one fight left on his current deal with Matchroom and a real desire to get back in the title mix.
Fa, a sparring partner of former WBC champion Deontay Wilder, has worked long and hard to get himself within range of a major fight and needs a step up in the quality of opponents. A loss to the vastly more experienced Parker would certainly hit his quest to get amongst any title talk.
Duncan Johnstone
Negotiations for an all-Kiwi heavyweight clash between Joseph Parker and Junior Fa have broken down over "ridiculous" pay demands.
Parker's manager David Higgins hasn't written off the juicy clash yet but there will need to be major concessions from the Fa camp for the fight to happen.
"The money they want is ridiculous," Higgins told Stuff.
New Zealand heavyweights Joseph Parker and Junior Fa are eager to fight - if the money is right.
"It's probably 20 times Junior Fa's biggest ever purse. Joseph was willing to fight for less than what Fa is asking and let's not forget Joseph is a former world champion. That's called pricing yourself out.
"I think they are looking for way too much for where they are at. There's a lot at risk here and they obviously see that."
When the possibility of the fight was first aired after Parker's impressive knockout of North American champion Shawndell Winters on March 1, the Fa camp were talking in the range of $1m for their fighter, believing it could be a $3m purse.
Stuff understands Fa's formal request wasn't that figure but it's still out of scale in the eyes of Team Parker.
Higgins remains keen to try to arrange the fight.
"Joseph would look at it if Fa was realistic," Higgins said.
"It's a big fight and there's a big opportunity here with the sport currently in lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic.
"If we made it happen it could be one of the first fights when the sport is given the green light to resume. There's going to be a real demand for live sport again and we could grab that, we could lead the world.
"Everyone has to get their heads together and be realistic."
Joseph Parker's manager David Higgins hopes to keep a fight against Junior Fa alive amongst tricky negotiations.
There has been speculation the fight could be used to debut streaming giant DAZN's entry to the New Zealand market.
Parker fights for DAZN as part of his deal with British promoter Eddie Hearn at Matchroom Boxing.
Parker and Fa share a 2-2 history as amateurs.
Both are ranked highly by the WBO where former champ Parker is at No 2 and Fa is at No 6.
Parker is also at No 6 with the WBC and No 7 with the IBF. Fa doesn't feature in the top 15 of the other major organisations.
Parker has positioned himself well after a frustrating 18 months of low activity and would certainly have other significant international options with one fight left on his current deal with Matchroom and a real desire to get back in the title mix.
Fa, a sparring partner of former WBC champion Deontay Wilder, has worked long and hard to get himself within range of a major fight and needs a step up in the quality of opponents. A loss to the vastly more experienced Parker would certainly hit his quest to get amongst any title talk.