Accoridng to David Higgins, the manager for former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker, says a New Zealand grudge match with unbeaten Junior Fa is being explored for 2020.
Last Saturday night in Texas, Parker snapped his layoff with a knockout victory over Shawndell Winters on the Mikey Garcia vs. Jessie Vargas undercard.
Parker and Fa faced off in the amateur ranks four times, with their unpaid series ending in a 2-2 tally.
A fight between Parker and Fa had been discussed in the past, but never came together.
Higgins believes the fight needs to happen now or it will never happen in the future.
Fa is ranked at number 6 by the WBO, while Parker is ranked at 2.
Fa has not fought since beating Devin Vargas via decision last November. Fa is 19-0 with 10 KOs. Parker, who faced a much higher level of opponents, has a record of 27-2 with 21 KOs.
In 2018, after Joseph Parker's win over Alexander Flores, trainer Kevin Barry revealed Fa had initially been offered $500,000 to fight Parker, but his management declined the all-New Zealand affair, so Duco then approached Flores, who gladly accepted.
Instead, Fa fought on the undercard, beating Argentine Rogelio Omar Rossi.
"Junior Fa is unbeaten and Joseph Parker is in his prime," Higgins told Stuff. "To match them up now would be sensible.
"It's being discussed as a serious, realistic option. If it didn't happen now, then it might never happen. Fa might take a loss, Joseph might retire, so the reason it's being discussed now is because it kind of makes sense to do it now.
That being said, the commercials and financials have to work, and the stars have to align. The number that Fa wants has to be viable - if he prices himself out, it won't happen. It would have to be a Matchroom event, and it has been discussed between them and us.
"It could be on par with the Tua-Cameron fight. Those local derbies can sometimes be as big as world title fights. An event like this in winter at Auckland's Spark Arena could stop the country."