After the crisis comes the recovery, the picking up of the pieces and getting back to something equating normality (with a few valuable lessons/perspectives gained, of course). For Joseph Parker that means getting into the ring and fighting.

Joe’s been one of the breakthrough stars of lockdown with his delightful homemade videos and it’s actually been a joy to see his personality shine through in that way. So often his media exposure comes in promoting a fight where he seems to feel that pressure to be the tough guy talking about how he’s gonna knock this bugger out and all that. It’s only really been his last fight or two where he’s allowed himself to ease off that tough guy act that’s so prevalent in boxing and just be himself, not worrying that people will think he’s soft or unmotivated or whatever simply because he can smile and joke around. In the past when Parker’s tried to use some of those negative motivations, such as anger, in his fights is when we’ve seen him making mistakes... against Shawndell Winters in February he wasn’t like that and it was a thoroughly impressive – but still aggressive – victory for the fella.

You wonder if having aligned with Eddie Hearn has something to do with that. Hearn is the main man in boxing promotion these days thanks to his work with Anthony Joshua and while AJ is only one third of the triumvirate at the top of the heavyweight ranks, he’s comfortably the most profitable of them all. Parker being involved with Matchroom therefore takes the pressure off. David Higgins gets to be his manager and nothing more, no need for the cowboy Duco antics trying to stay recognised in a notoriously difficult sport for those outside the traditional power structures.

Anyway, Joseph Parker got up bright and early a few days ago to feature on an Instagram Live stream that Eddie Hearn was doing and Hearn, after talking up Parker as one of the nicest dudes in boxing, began by noting something rather scary... Parker’s fight vs Winters was on one of the last cards that Matchroom were able to get in before the postponements started happening. Meaning that if he hadn’t booked that one then adding in the whole spider bite debacle then Parker might have been looking something like 14 months out of the ring before his next possible window in, what, August? We simply don’t know. That’s a career-crippler dodged right there.

The fact is that the Corona Virus has significantly altered the landscape of heavyweight boxing. A lot of previously scheduled bouts are gonna be canned as the reschedules are argued over. Some of those will be fights relevant to Parker. When we entered this thing, Parker was coming off a good solid win but it wasn’t the kind of win that did anything for his prospects other than reminding people he exists. You don’t get a title shot off the back of Shawndell Winters and that was the concern after Parker went from a Dereck Chisora fight pre-spider to a keep busy underdog battle several months after. It was objectively a weaker addition to his fight resume. Plus it used up time, time that others had spent rallying themselves to be next in line for Joshua/Fury/Wilder after those jokers take care of whatever they’re currently doing (Joshua vs Pulev in a mandatory defence, Fury vs Wilder III in a contracted rematch).

But that was before the lockdowns. Joseph Parker may have been a big winner during lockdown with his snappy vids but he’s also poised to be a winner after lockdown as the mid-term plans of his rivals are thrown into the trash can, whereas Parker has a clean slate after beating Winters. Eddie Hearn had plenty to say about all that in the IG chat and here’s a bit of a transcript of the most fascinating bit of that convo...

Eddie Hearn: Obviously now moving forward, I think we know speaking to you, speaking to Dave Higgins: we want that big fight now. It’s an absolute must that your next fight is a big fight. For me I would still like to see the fight with you and Dereck Chisora. Obviously he’s gonna fight Usyk. It was May 23rd, that's now postponed. Who have you got your eye on in the division right now? Of course there’s a big potential fight for you in New Zealand as well.

Joseph Parker: Yeah I mean... what do you think? What do you think is next? As one of the best promoters in the world what do you reckon we do?

Eddie Hearn: Well, I mean firstly, obviously, the best promoter in the world, Joe. Not one. Very important, mate.

Both: [Giggles & Chummery]

Eddie Hearn: I’ve got a complete mental block of your New Zealand compatriot unbeaten heavyweight...

Joseph Parker: Junior Fa

Eddie Hearn: Junior Fa. For me, when we talk about the Junior Fa fight, I like the Junior Fa fight for New Zealand, for us to come over and do something different over there. You know we’ve been talking about launching Matchroom in New Zealand and Australian with you and Dave and all that kinda stuff. I think that’s an interesting fight for New Zealand. For me I wanna move you towards a world heavyweight championship shot and I think you look at the division right now I love the fight with you and Luis Ortiz. I love the rematch with Dillian Whyte. I even like the Andy Ruiz rematch to be honest with you. You’ve got Hergovic is up there making moves. you’ve got Michael Hunter. You and Povetkin is a great fight as well, we’ll see what happens.

Joseph Parker: Isn’t it fair to say that there’s a lot of possibilities and a lot of fights that we could make?

Eddie Hearn: There is and I think that now when we return to boxing every sport is going to be trying to capture the attention and the space. So if we don’t come back and start making major fights, like fights people wanna see, for me there’s gonna be so much congestion of fighters looking to get out. The ones that are ready to step up in the big fights are the ones that are going to come back ASAP. The heavyweight division is on fire. I would actually like to see you and Ruiz again.

Old mate knows what he’s talking about and he’s not wrong about the congested landscape after all these lockdowns end. However that is exactly the kind of scrunched up calendar that Joseph Parker is beautifully placed to take advantage of, making up for the last six months or so previous to the Winters fight where he didn’t go anywhere but stay still. That’s all forgotten now and what we know for sure about Parker is that he wants the big fights, he’s not gonna shy away. He’ll one hundred percent be amongst the stepper upperers that Hearnbags is talking about and thanks to his allegiance with Matchroom he’s in a good position to actually get them too. And a big performance in a big fight means he’ll be a good bet to have his Matchroom contract extended too.

A belated Dereck Chisora fight would depend on what happens with the Oleksandr Usyk fight. That one is expected to be rescheduled and even then there’s the matter of whether Chisora wins or loses. Parker actually picked Usyk to win that matchup later on in the video chat, the Ukrainian former light-heavyweight looking to hold his own amongst the heavyweights since going up in weight class recently. Parker came through the Winters fight all good so could be ready to fight again close to straight away when it all resumes so perhaps these dudes don’t quite fit his timeline, it’s tricky to predict.

Andy Ruiz is the one fella mentioned multiple times by Hearn. Ruiz hasn’t been sighted since he embarrassed himself in his rematch with Anthony Joshua but Ruiz is a better fighter than he showed that night and he has a bit of prior history with Joseph Parker, including that debated result which is extra motivation for both fighters to set the record straight. Hearn’s worked with Ruiz in those Joshua fights so both sides are familiar with him and both Hearn and Parker both talked up Ruiz’s potential to remain a contender in the division. Ruiz isn’t a particularly sexy name right now but he is a well known name and that counts for much more.

Luis Ortiz a little less so. At 41 years old with a some murderous power and a few drug suspicions over the years it’s a dangerous fight for Parker. Ortiz has beaten everyone he’s fought other than two defeats vs Deontay Wilder. Parker has elite speed and durability so maybe he can withstand the blows and outbox the dude but with Ortiz’s age in consideration, as well as those two title defeats, this isn’t a dude he necessarily has to get past. He could ignore him until Ortiz retires and nobody’s gonna care that he didn’t take the risk. Yet beating Luis Ortiz and becoming only the second fighter to do so would be a massive statement.

A Dillian Whyte rematch is the most exciting of all of these as a win there would not only open up Parker’s prospects by toppling the WBC interim champ but he’d also cancel out one of the two defeats on his resume. Whyte is a dude he’s danced with in the past and we saw enough there to know that a tweak in his strategy and a bit more luck in not getting dazed by an accidental knockdown ruled a legit knockdown and he can win that fight, no doubt. Whyte is supposed to fight Povetkin in July though, a fight that was rescheduled from 2 May two weeks ago. Povetkin himself being a 40 year old Russian whose two career defeats are to Wladimir Klitschko and Anthony Joshua, as well as drawing with Michael Hunter in December. He’s had some big deal wins in his career that keep him in the mix and he’s a little shorter than Parker in height which is something that’s been a factor in most of Parker’s best performances.

Filip Hrgovic and Michael Hunter are younger dudes much fresher upon the scene (although Hunter is 31 years old – boxing is weird like that, meanwhile Parker is only 28 and almost a veteran). Perhaps not recognised as top tier contenders yet but will definitely be there soon enough. And yet in a funny way that makes them better fight prospects for someone like, oh I dunno, Junior Fa perhaps?

And that’s the main thing to take from Hearny’s chatter. Junior Fa vs Joseph Parker makes sense from a local perspective yet Hearn ain’t thinking on a local level, he’s international and Junior Fa just doesn’t have the clout yet. The temptation is obvious but it sorta feels like Fa would be skipping out on a few steps by going straight to Parker instead of building himself up more first. Anyway, Parker vs Fa simply doesn’t match the criteria that Eddie Hearn is talking about for a big fight. That fight will always be there in the background if other things don’t happen but it doesn’t make enough sense for that to be the first choice next option for either. Junior Fa is ranked six by the WBO and can easily leverage that into some more career-making bouts in the meantime.

There were preliminary talks between the parties but Dave Higgins has already laughed off the “stratospheric” financial demands of Fa’s camp. Junior Fa is on the books for Lou DiBella these days, by the way. Same agency as Shawndell Winters. In fact Fa might even be DiBella’s top heavyweight since he split with Deontay Wilder.

Having said that, possible travel restrictions around the world combined with Aotearoa’s relative success in dealing with COVID-19 so far (knock on wood and emphasis on the word: relative) may well leave Parker vs Fa as the only viable option. Most of the big fights are taking place in England or the USA and those might not be places anyone wants to go any time soon. If borders remain closed well beyond lockdowns than there won’t even be the option.

Just gotta see how it goes then but remember that neither Parker nor Fa have kiwi promoters so what might sell down out little neck of the woods is not what they’re prioritising (Hearn couldn’t even remember Fa’s name so there’s a clue for you). Right now is a long way from the time to be making concrete plans for the future but Eddie Hearn has spoken and what he had to say was rather enlightening upon this whole process - especially what happens afterwards. So now we wait.

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