Joseph Parker Stoked With Fury Vacating, Full Focus on Andy Ruiz
By Edward Chaykovsky
Dean Lonergan of Duco Events, who promote heavyweight contender Joseph Parker (21-0, 18KOs), was a very happy man when Tyson Fury vacated his WBO/IBO/WBA world titles on Wednesday.
Parker is the number one contender under the WBO. With Fury's decision to step away due to mental health issues, the sanctioning body will order Parker to face Andy Ruiz (29-0, 19kOs) for the vacant belt.
Both sides have been anticipating Fury's decision, which is why Duco has been negotiating since last week with Ruiz's promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank.
The two sides were in talks to stage a fight on December 10th in New Zealand, but that date doesn't work for Arum's side and now they are looking at potentially having it a week or two later.
With Fury out of the way, the two camps can really jump start their talks and both sides appear confident a deal will be reached.
"This is a huge step in the right direction," Lonergan said to Fairfax Media. "Three things have had to happen for us to fight Andy Ruiz for the world title. One, Tyson Fury has to be stripped, or he relinquish the belts, so that's one. Step two, Anthony Joshua, has to sign to fight Wladimir Klitschko, that's coming up. Step three, we need to come up with an agreement with (promoter) Bob Arum and Andy Ruiz. We're on our way."
Parker feels bad at how Fury's career fell apart, but at the same time he's overjoyed at the prospect of fighting for the WBO world title.
"It's disappointing for Fury. He's been really good to me and I hope he gets well soon," Parker said. "But it's an exciting opportunity which can't be ignored. I have my fingers crossed my promoters can stitch up a deal to bring the WBO world title to New Zealand."
