Boxing is a strange old sport where so much can happen without anything really happening at all, just ask Joseph Parker.

Deontay Wilder, WBC World Heavyweight Champion, fought on the weekend in an another defence of his belt, his first since breaking his hand in beating Chris Arreola last July. He took on Gerald Washington and he destroyed him, furiously so. The Bronze Bomber got it done with ease against the previously undefeated Washington. A fifth round KO after the early rounds were split on the cards (Wilder looked a bit rusty after his time off).

Wilder’s a tall bugger, around 2m, and he hits like a flippin’ freight train. With this win he moves his career record to 38-0… with THIRTY SEVEN coming by knockout. Bermane Stiverne is the only man to have gone the distance with him.

However Wilder’s also not got the most competitive list of victims either. Before winning the WBA belt in that contest with Stiverne, the best win on his record was probably Malik Scott and since then he’s taken care of several second tier heavyweight contenders, guys who are usually there for the gateway fights – like, you beat them to show you deserve a shot at fellows such as Wilder. Still, there’s been a notable jump in opponents since he won the belt (Eric Molina, Johann Duhaupas, Artur Szpilka & Chris Arreola) and he’s dealt with them all just the same way he did those worse battlers.

Wilder wasn’t supposed to fight Gerald Washington. He was supposed to fight Andrzej Wawrzyk but then that old joker Mr Drug Test popped his head in the door and that fight was suspended. Wilder instead managed to get Washington on short notice and he proceeded to beat him on short notice. Washington, like Wilder, is in the Al Haymon camp of fighters and had been on previous undercards. The 34 year old was a good chance to get a title shot eventually, just not yet.

In the wake of that fight, Joseph Parker appeared. It was already reported that he’d be in Alabama for the fight, some even suggested he’d make a ring appearance but in the end he settled for an off-canvas “G’day mate”. Quick handshake and a word of congrats, which is what we’re coming to expect from Joe. He tried doing the trash talking at earlier times in his career, probably at the request of Duco, and it looked about as natural as a giraffe in high heels. This is the real Joseph Parker and it’s the same dude we saw in the lead-up to the Andy Ruiz fight: all respect out of the ring, all business in it. There was a chat in the changing room afterwards as well.

As if that wasn’t enough of a hint, Deontay Wilder spelled out the situation in a few short words with a microphone in his face: “I’m ready for Joseph Parker. The question is: is he ready for me? I’ve done my part Joseph Parker, now it’s time to do yours.”

Parker’s said the same kinda stuff. Both dudes want to unite their lone belts rather than defend them in the corner on their own and that’s a massively commendable things. To be fair, if these guys were coming through after a stronger era of heavyweights then might not be a title fight at all. Parker won a vacant belt, rather than defeating a champion, while Wilder picked his up off the guy who won it as a vacant, so this prospective fight would be the biggest contest of either’s career by a distance. The next step after that, naturally, is a total unification blockbuster against the winner of Anthony Joshua vs Wladimir Klitschko.

Except that there’s been a complication in all of this with the WBC ordering Wilder into a mandatory defence against Bermane Stiverne, a former title holder himself. Actually not only a former title holder but flash back up a few paragraphs and a guy who has fought Wilder for this very same belt before. The only fella to take Wilder to 12 rounds but this is still a strange one from the governing body there. Stiverne has only fought once since losing to Wilder: a unanimous decision win over Derric Rossy, though he was supposed to fight Alexander Povetkin for the WBC interim title in December but it was cancelled when Povetkin tested positive for a banned substance.

Funny character this Povetkin. Wilder was meant to fight him in May as well but he tested positive there too, the bout called off within two weeks of the date. Then Wilder was meant to fight the winner of Povetkin and Stiverne but you already know what happened there. So instead the WBC have given it to Stiverne without winning an eliminator or interim belt.

Because of all that, Wilder hasn’t had a mandatory defence yet which is probably why the WBC are so keen to see one happen. There’s no date set and there’s always the chance that they give Parker vs Wilder the preference given the greater relevance to the division. But common sense and boxing don’t always go hand in hand.

Plus Parker’s busy with a mandatory defence of his own at the moment. Since winning the purse bid, we’ve pretty much known that Parker vs Hughie Fury would be held in Auckland, probably at Vector Arena. Yet the date’s been pushed back from April 1 as it was first suspected to May 6 and the reason for that was Fury’s camp delaying the contract signing.

Now, this is weird. They want this fight and while they wanted it in England, they got outbid so can hardly complain. But there are complications of having it in New Zealand, not the least of which being that Hughie’s father and trainer Peter Fury’s organised crime background (not even kidding – boxing, ladies and gents!) meaning there’s some doubt that he’ll even be allowed into the country. Plus Fury’s conditioning no doubt needs all the work it can get as he’ll have been out of the ring for 13 months come May and in that time he’s had to deal with some mysterious skin condition that was sapping his energy.

Yet in delaying it there’s now one more drama and that’s the doping hearing in the UK which is expected to take place in April (in between the first and second fight dates). The hearing is based on positive 2015 tests on both Hughie and Tyson Fury, which they deny any wrongdoing from (tainted meat, apparently) and received suspended probations. If the hearing takes place as reported (and it probably won’t because, you know, bureaucracy…) then that’s one more complication in an increasingly stupid negotiation. Just agree the bloody fight already! And credit where it’s due to Duco, none of this is their doing.

It’s understood that Duco have very wisely figured out a few backup plans just in case. Parker will fight someone on May 6, that much appears true – the WBO were already talking last week about letting Parker fight an optional defence instead if Frank Warren wouldn’t sign the papers; he has now but things still aren’t a whole lot clearer.

Hence you can’t really blame him for looking ahead to Wilder either. Because of the May fight, that means we’re looking at probably August or more likely September as the date for anything with Wilder. There’s the chance he gets Stiverne out of the way before that but three title fights in seven months is a little insane. Gotta bank on the WBA giving precedence, really. For what it’s worth, Wilder has said he expects Parker to beat Fury (and that he otherwise expects Fury to dodge him) although he also said he thought Andy Ruiz should’ve won that last fight. Joseph Parker, Kevin Barry and the lads are happy to fight it in America… while Wilder is happy to fight in New Zealand.

Deontay Wilder: “If it lands in New Zealand, it would be lovely to go over. I was willing to go to Russia, I've gone to Mexico, been to England. My belt says heavyweight champion of the world. It doesn't just say 'of Alabama' or just 'of this country.'”

And that’s what we’ve got right now. One absolutely tasty bout between current world belt holders (one of whom seriously thinks he could accidentally murder someone in the ring one day) but each has to get through a mandatory defence first, neither of which are much fun. Hughie Fury because of all the baggage he’s bringing and Stiverne because he’s already been comfortably done on points by Wilder once before. So now we wait.

In the meantime, there were two other curious names on the Wilder undercard: Izu Ugonoh and Junior Fa! Both are dudes who’ve been spotted several times on Joe Parker undercards but each have lately gone their own way. Junior Fa is now represented by Lou DiBella (so one degree away from Al Haymon & Premier Boxing Champions) while Ugonoh left the cradled arms of Duco for Al Haymon, although he’s still trained by Kevin Barry.

Well, Fa moved to 10-0 as a pro, the Tongan rep and Papakura native getting the KO against some random American guy in the non-televised early card. As for Izu? Mate, you’ve gotta watch this one for yourself because it was a classic as the bloke looked set for a knockout win only to get dropped himself by Dominic Breazeale.