By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing
WBO #6 heavyweight Junior Fa (19-0, 10 KOs) has rejected an offer to challenge former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker (27-2, 21 KOs) according to Parker’s promoter David Higgins.
“They have turned it down. It’s a joke, it’s embarrassing for Junior,” Higgins told Stuff. “You can’t call out Joseph Parker for two years and then turn down half a million dollars when there are no other fights on offer. That’s why they don’t want it in the media.
“The only bigger purse has been when Parker fought Andy Ruiz Jr and won the world title. Junior Fa was offered the second biggest purse ever to fight the guy he had been calling out for two years. We can’t get a response.
“The only explanation is Junior Fa is using Joseph Parker to build his name and then he’s offered $500,000, enough to buy a house, and he runs.”
Junior Fa’s promoter Lou DiBella told Sky Sports, ”Under Higgins’ offer, the fight would need to do huge business for the Fa side to see NZ$500,000 between us. They can’t assert how big the fight is and act like Junior is an insignificant participant.”
Crazy! That’s a huge payday for him. Must be they don’t think they can beat him. That would skyrocket him into championship discussions. Maybe they think they have another avenue but he won’t be making that kind of money for a few years now.
There’s always two sides to every story, and the final paragraph of the article might shed some light why Fa turned down the fight. Most likely the offer wasn’t exactly as Higgins has conveyed it, which is what DiBella is implying.
Either way, these guys need to keep active with competitive fights in order to keep interest in what is already a marginal sport.
Fight purse is $500K…example if JP is the draw card then its 60/40 or 70/30 to his favor from the $500K…that’s why LouDub is not agreeing for now…
If Higgins thinks the fight is a big fight in New Zealand then he should pay Fa $500,000 US
Has anyone ever seen Juniur Fa fight? I saw him at Pechanga’s casino when he fought against Dominick Guinn. fight was boring until Guinn dropped him badly in the middle rounds. Guinn then gassed himself out and never once after threatened to hurt Fa. But Fa was so unimpressive so for him to not take THIS fight is crazy!
Probably a combination of Dibella knowing that Fa is not that good and the purse being a little shaky
Fa just wants to beat up on some more taxi drivers on his way to a title shot.
Parker in 2!