By Edward Chaykovsky

Joseph Parker has remained focused and staying the course in training camp, as the details regarding his mandatory fight with Andy Ruiz have yet to be decided.

The World Boxing Organization ordered the two fighters to collide for their vacant heavyweight title, which Tyson Fury vacated a few weeks ago.

Parker's promoter is attempting to stage the fight on December 10th in Auckland, but the heavy financial burden of getting the event put together may force the event to head over to the United States, where Ruiz's promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank, would handle the promotional responsibilities.

Duco Events, who promote Parker, were attempting to get funding from the New Zealand goverment but on Friday they withdrew their application for funding.

There is now only at 20% chance of the event coming off in New Zealand.

Parker is training in Las Vegas with coach Kevin Barry.

"I spoke to Joseph this morning and he says it's the best camp he's had to date. He's in a really good head space, he's not worried about any of this," Duco co-owner David Higgins said to Fairfax Media. "Joseph Parker is very mentally tough, it's one of his major strengths. He just gets on with the job in hand which is training."

Higgins and his partner Dean Lonergan would crunch the financial numbers again this weekend with a view to rearranging the budget.

"We personally think the best thing is to have that in New Zealand," Lonergan said. "If it gives Joe an extra five percent chance, it's worth the endeavour, if it gives him an extra 10 percent, well it's really hard to say no. But again, we have fiscal responsibilities. This is a massive event but the big disadvantage is the short lead-in time we have available to make it work."

"He knows 100 percent he is fighting Andy Ruiz, he knows 100 percent he's going to be fighting inside the next three to four months and, most importantly he knows he's getting inside  a 7m x 7m boxing ring. It's coming down to where this fight is going to take place.

"Joseph and Kevin are preparing very hard right now for this. They are working towards a December 10 date and while we still have a 20 percent chance of pulling this in, they will continue to do so until we tell them differently. It's not over yet.