Arum on Parker vs. Ruiz Possibly Heading To The United States
By Steve Kim
Last week, it was ruled by the WBO that Joseph Parker and Andy Ruiz would battle for their vacant heavyweight title, which was recently held by Tyson Fury. So the question is just when and where is this fight taking place? It's believed that it will take place on December 10th in New Zealand.
Bob Arum, who's company Top Rank represents Ruiz, told BoxingScene.com - "My deal with them is that they have the option to do it in New Zealand and if they can come up with the sponsorship and so forth. If they can't, I will do it in the United States because I think it's a helluva an attraction in the United States - not in December but in January."
The Parker side is trying to get government funding to stage this fight on their turf.
"The time frame is the issue," said Parker's promoter Dean Lonergan of Duco Events. "We are in discussions with a huge array of people. But they all have to come together in a very tight space of time. "Obviously it's a massive event, it's a historical event for New Zealand and it's something that David Higgins and myself are incredibly keen to make happen.
"But we are first and foremost a business and it has to be commercially viable. We have to raise seven figures to make this thing work and that's never been done on a boxing match here before. We might break it down and say, if it makes a loss, it makes a loss and we have to suck it up.
"We would much prefer to have the fight here and in the long term interests of Joseph Parker we want to give him any advantage we can to win this fight. But at the end of the day we have fiscal responsibilities to worry about. If we can't make it happen here and Bob wants to take the commercial risk, well, so be it ... we'll shrug our shoulders and move on. For Bob it's just another world title fight, He's probably done hundreds of them. But for us, it's a big deal."
Arum says the ball, as of right now, is in Longeran's court.
"So the ball is in their court," stated Arum. "They're lovely people. Joe Parker's a terrific kid, Dean Lonergan, the promoter, is a really nice guy but my deal is in any event that they have first option to see if they can put it in New Zealand."
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.
