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Parker vs Fury Ain’t Happening, Ending A Long & Frustrating Boxing Debacle

Fight’s off, people. Finish your drink and get your coats, see if the chauffeur won’t bring the car around. We’re now less than two weeks away from the scheduled date of Joseph Parker’s WBO heavyweight title defence against Hughie Fury but it turns out it won’t be going ahead after all.

Duco’s official statement: “Duco Events was today notified by the World Boxing Organisation that mandatory number one challenger Hughie Fury has an injury, and will be unable to challenge champion Joseph Parker for the Heavyweight Title on May 6th in Auckland. The World Boxing Organisation has, therefore, advised Duco Events to investigate the possibility of Joseph Parker making a voluntary defence of his heavyweight title against an opponent ranked in the top 15 of the world rankings. Duco Events is currently investigating all options and will make no further comment as yet.”

Frankly it’s been a bloody farce from the beginning – and none of this has been Joseph Parker or Duco’s fault either. Duco get their fair share of criticism for their, erm, cavalier ways of doing business in a big money industry… but in contrast to the Fury camp over the last few months they couldn’t have looked more professional. Well, at least until David Higgins called them a bunch of clowns but then he’s got a few reasons to be annoyed here.

Why’s it been called off? Ostensibly they reckon that Hughie Fury has an injury. He probably does, what with the way this fight has been approached. It was weird because Fury had battled that skin issue, right, and it’d kept him out of the sport for 12 months as he battled back to fitness. The camp reckoned that the skin dramas were sapping him of energy (and based on doctor’s reports that’s fully legit) so there was this feeling that a reinvigorated Hughie could come back and scrap his way to the top of the heavyweight game. Joseph Parker was only the first step, the plan was to unify the division and, once his cousin Tyson was ready to get back into things, rule it with a familial dynasty just as the Klitschko’s once did.

Yeah about that… can’t see it happening any time soon. There were just too many things that were going wrong with this bout from the very beginning and all the funky smells were coming from the Fury side of things. A big old mess, really.

First it was the initial discussions which we don’t really know much about but which clearly found a few reasons to stall. You’d imagine that the Fury camp, with their promoter Frank Warren, would have been a lot like the rest of the world and seen Duco as pretty pliable negotiators. One major dude on their hands, they’ve been pushed around with the Jeff Horn vs Manny Pacquiao thing too, fighting outta New Zealand and all that… any high profile American or English promoter should have the upper hand on those negotiations – whether Parker’s the champ or not.

Which is why it was so confusing that, after the initial conversations didn’t find enough common ground, the mandatory defence was sent to a purse bid and Duco were able to come away with the biscuits there. Neither Hughie nor Joe was gonna see it as a deal-breaker to have to fight outside of their homeland but it was still a huge advantage. Especially for Fury as the underdog - to be able to fight in front of a favourable crowd, with all his preparation coming in a familiar atmosphere and whatever. It’d be huge for his chances. Not to mention the travel issues that Peter Fury was gonna face getting into Aotearoa. It’s not like this was the first time he’d have troubles entering a foreign country either so that can’t have been an overlooked factor.

The feeling was that the Furys maybe got complacent. They were outdone by a few hundy Ks, Duco winning it with a bid of US$3.01m compared to $2.8m from Fury’s folk. Even with Duco now backed firmly by Top Rank in the US, there’s really no reason why anyone would’ve expected Duco to win that. Fair play to them for going all in for their boy but… you’ve gotta wonder how the other buggers let that happen – even with a blind bidding process.

Oh but that was only the start of things. Then, despite reports that the fight would take place on April 1 in New Zealand, there were massive delays in getting the papers signed. Around the same time there emerged reports that Fury was gonna have to face a UK anti-doping hearing over positive tests from he and Tyson going back a few years. It’s a bit of a beat-up but the timing of it was unfortunate. Plus there were the much more impactful reports that Peter Fury, Hughie’s dad and trainer, was not going to be allowed into NZ because of his (many) past criminal convictions.

So the fight was delayed and in late-February the World Boxing Organisation told the Fury camp that if they didn’t get their arse into gear and confirm a date in the next few days then they’d withdraw the mandatory challenge and let Parker choose a voluntary defence instead. In hindsight it woulda been nice if that had happened.

What actually did happen was that Peter Fury was granted a conditional visa, allowing him six weeks in the country to cover the whole preparation. Then, finally, the fight was confirmed in early March for Saturday 6 May in Auckland. There’s since been competitive chatter on both sides but precious little coordination and despite talk that the Fury’s were dead serious and would be cutting no corners by arriving in New Zealand at least a month early for a full camp of preparation… it’s two weeks out from the date and they’re nowhere to be seen.

Then WBO President Paco Valcarcel tweeted this and now it’s game over:

A Convoluted Timetable of Event:

  • Parker vs Fury Talks Begin: Mid-December 2016
  • Parker vs Fury Sent to Purse Bid: 25 January 2017
  • Parker vs Fury Purse Bid is Completed: 3 February 2017
  • Parker vs Fury Fight Confirmed: 8 March 2017
  • Parker vs Fury Called Off: 23 April 2017
  • Parker vs Fury Scheduled Date: 6 May 2017

It’s been a joke of a situation, stupid even by boxing measures. Frank Warren and Peter Fury have sorted out successful title bouts in the past so there’s no excuse for what’s gone on. What you really have to wonder is, like Top Rank VP Carl Moretti told ESPN’s Dan Rafael: “If Fury really wanted the opportunity in the first place”.

Parker and Fury are both undefeated. Both have also, for the most part, gotten where they are without having to slug off against the very best in the heavyweight ranks (blame that one on the Klitschko’s for annihilating the chasing pack) but Parker definitely has a couple of wins better than anything Fury has managed. So not only was Hughie unproven at this level but he was coming off that year-long absence and fighting in tough conditions for him overseas. An injury only adds to what was already a long list of doubts about his prospects here. Duco have hinted that their communication with Warren/Fury has been minimal since winning the purse bid – it was probably at that moment that the cold feet first set in.

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David Higgins (via RNZ): “Since day one they didn't want to come to New Zealand. The fought the original negotiations then had to go to a purse bid and we won it and then elected to have the fight in New Zealand and then there were more fights over the contract negotiations. I just don't think they wanted to come here.”

Also remember that Tyson Fury twice pulled out of his rematch with Wladimir Klitschko before it was finally called off. For completely valid reasons given where his mental state was at, but also in the same shady way that leaves the rest of the parties in the dark over the whole thing. Hughie’s getting something of a reputation for dodging fights now and the reputation of the Fury team won’t have gone up in anyone’s eyes through all this. Duco have a lot of money at stake here. Top Rank don’t sound chuffed either. These things have ramifications.

But Smokin’ Joe Parker still has options. It’s not uncommon for opponents to pull out late in prep for fights with injuries and there are usually a few blokes ready to come to the rescue just in case. Generally that means a much less competitive fight but at least it’s a fight, you know. And with a title belt on the line, there’s bound to be some sucker willing to take it on.

Right now that seems like the best case scenario and if they can find someone at short notice then the fight can still go ahead on May 6 as planned – just gotta change a few posters and ads is all. Duco requested permission to find a voluntary defence back when the WBO first dropped the hammer on Warren/Fury for not confirming the fight back in February so they’ll surely have a few names already in mind.

As for the Fury camp, they still want the fight. But they also want to give Hughie a warm-up bout or two before it eventually happens. Given that Duco have understandably doused that bridge in gasoline and set the sonnovabitch on fire you’ve gotta imagine that the chances of resurrecting this bout are rather slim, though.


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