In two weeks’ time there’s a rather significant boxing match gonna take place. Joseph Parker versus Junior Fa, you may have heard about it? But you probably haven’t heard enough about it because maybe it’s the summer sporting schedule, maybe it’s the state of the sport of boxing these days, maybe it’s because of the enforced delay, maybe it’s a reflection of unserious media strategies from both (or at least one) camps, maybe it’s just because we kiwi sports fans tend not to buy into the hype until the very last moment. If you’re ever rocked up to a game last minute expecting to buy tickets at the gate only to end up missing kickoff because several thousand other NZers were thinking the exact same way then you know what’s up. But it sure doesn’t feel like this fight has too much momentum about it yet. Sure doesn’t feel like it’s seeping into the wider kiwi sports community mind yet.

It certainly doesn’t help promotional matters when one of the fighters is openly flirting/beefing with a foreign heavyweight for his next fight despite not having actually partaken in this one yet. Joseph Parker has been talking for weeks about his next options. Names like Oleksandr Usyk, Dillian Whyte, Joe Joyce, and Derek Chisora are all on the wishlist... with Derek Chisora very much taking up that challenge, saying Parker “chickened out” the last time they were scheduled together (this was the abandoned spider bite fight) and then Parker’s manager Dangerous Dave Higgins and promoted Eddie Hearn have only gone and added more fuel to that fire ever since.

None of that is Parker’s fault, he’s only answering the questions he’s asked and any fighter is going to a) back themselves to win their next bout (or else they wouldn’t be fighting, obvs) and b) have planned more than one fight ahead. But all of it’s pretty disrespectful to Junior Fa. Even if Parker’s a heavy favourite, he still has to do the business. Fa hasn’t fought at this level before but he’s a ranked fighter ready to step up into the contending class, win or lose on February 27. And to be honest it’s the global media which seems to be overlooking him the most, particularly the British crowd where Parker is a known factor and Fa is a mystery bag at the markets. The local scribes, in fairness, have served up some pretty useful yarns about the fight, not just regarding Parker and Fa but also David Nyika’s gotten a lot of focus ahead of his pro debut on the undercard. So hopefully the Aotearoa crowd will go all out once we get closer to the day.

Because this bout does deserve it. Shane Cameron versus David Tua might have been the Fight of the Century (only nine years into the century) but when that one actually happened Tua was on the wrong side of his management troubles. He was two years out of the ring at that point. It had been six and a half years since his second scrap with Hasim Rahman (a draw), which was probably the end of his peak. It was a month shy of nine years since his title fight against Lennox Lewis. This was not prime Tua. And yet he absolutely battered Shane Cameron who at that stage was 23-1 and threatening to move beyond the Australasian fishbowl.

Any momentum that Tua gained from that win was spoiled by more mismanagement out of the ring as an exclusive broadcast deal kept him from fighting overseas. Despite the feeling that Cameron was ruined by that loss, he did actually recover crack the top ten of the WBO rankings in 2012 after he knocked out Monte Barrett... but then he lost three straight to Danny Green, Brian Minto & Kali Meehan which led him into retirement as troubles with recurring cuts above his eye kept haunting him.

Point being that the highest grossing pay-per-view fight in Aotearoa history wasn’t actually very consequential. Here, on the other hand, we have a 29 year old former world champion seeking to get back to the top of the division in one corner and in the other corner is an undefeated 31 year old quickly rising up the charts and seeking to get to the top of the division for the first time. Two men who both grew up in South Auckland, who fought four times as amateurs (splitting them 2-2). One is Samoan, one is Tongan. One is ranked #4 by the WBO and the other is ranked #6 so there are significant points on offer. Parker is represented by Matchroom Sports (UK). Fa is represented by Lou DiBella (US). Whoever wins this fight isn’t fading into obscurity... there will be internationally significant fights that follow it, perhaps even for both dudes.

Anthony Joshua holds that WBO belt at the current moment. It’s the same one that Parker once owned, which AJ took off him when he beat him back in 2018. Parker is also currently ranked 7 by the WBC and 6 by the IBF. Fa is ranked 9 by the IBF. Neither is ranked at all by the WBA what with boxing being as bonkers as it is.

The obvious plan of attack here is to work a mandatory against AJ... although wouldn’t be for a little while. Either fighter would need to win at least another if not two or three more fights to position themselves for that mandatory challenge and that’s probably helpful because Joshua isn’t gonna be available any time soon anyway. He tends to only fight twice a year – once in July and once in December. Last December he knocked out Kubrat Pulev in what was a mandatory defence for the IBF belt. Next up he’s almost certain to fight Tyson Fury in what’ll be the modern English version of Parker vs Fa. For real though, that’s the number one potential fight in boxing this year. That’ll be incredible. Fury’s never been beaten, plus it’d be a unification bout with all four major honours on the line.

In the meantime everybody else has to chill and see what happens. Try to wriggle their way to the front of the queue for when the dust settles... which could take some time as there’ll definitely be a rematch clause involved. But no dramas there. It’s all about getting through this fight first for Parker and Fa.

You’d have to say that JP has a whole lot more to lose as he’s already got those two defeats on his record against Joshua and then Dillian Whyte. The Whyte one was especially unfortunate as there was that accidental clash which was poorly ruled a knockdown and Parker was visibly rattled for several rounds after that. When he finally turned on the power taps late on he ran out of time just as a knockout was looking possible.

It’s fine margins in this sport sometimes but the problem with Parker is that he’s made those losses look worse by his frankly baffling career ever since. The spider bite ruled him out of the one legit fight he had planned, other than that he’s looked average to great in toppling battlers that nobody knew much about. No-win situation there... even if you look spectacular then people say it was only against some rando. And if you look less than great then people say you’re washed up, couldn’t even drop this rando. If Parker thus goes on to lose to Junior Fa, who as we’ve established hasn’t earned his name recognition in the UK where the power brokers of heavyweight division seem to be based these days, then it’s gonna be tough to come back from that.

Junior Fa though, a win could catapult him up the rankings and under the guidance of City Kickboxing you know he’ll at least have a solid plan in place for how to deliver that win. But even a competitive loss would probably boost his stocks, showing the world what he’s got to offer and getting his name into negotiations elsewhere. For him, this is the fight that Carlos Takam was for Joe Parker (which is arguably still Parker’s finest performance in the ring).

Plus of course we’ve also gotta take a peek at two of the brilliant undercard fights. Duco being Duco there are a couple unserious ones – not helped by the fact that they can’t get foreign fighters in - but there are two belters in there too. David Nyika making his pro debut. He’s fighting as a cruiserweight against Auckland local Jess Maio (who is a bit of an unknown out of Peach Boxing gym, who have a couple dudes on the card). Then also Hemi Ahio will have a go against Julius Lloyd-Long, who is a 43 year old Auckland based boxer and kickboxer, originally from the USA, who according to boxrec stands a monstrous 7’1. But his record as a pro boxer is not a good one whereas Ahio is 16-0 and right on the brink of getting some genuinely recognisable fights in the future. These two fought once before and Ahio won by unanimous decision. Neither Nyika or Ahio should have any dramas getting the dubs but it’s a nice little reward for their hard work to give them the telly time. That hard work being that Hemi Ahio was the main sparring partner for Junior Fa while David Nyika has been the main dude sparring for Joseph Parker. The lads all getting amongst it. Exciting times.

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