It appears that WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker is caught in the middle of a very interesting promotional situation, as Fairfax Media reports that the co-owners of Duco Events - David Higgins and Dean Lonergan - are set to part ways.
According to Fairfax, lawyers are already involved and the five-year partnership between the co-owners is beyond the possibility of a reconciliation.
Parker is aware of the split and is letting his family handle the situation. At the moment it's not apparent as to which co-owner Parker will side with.
It will also be interested to see where this leaves other Duco fighters, like Jeff Horn, who is facing Manny Pacquiao in Brisbane in July.
Fairfax is claiming that Parker's parents and other close advisers area leaning away from Higgins.
Duco also made a deal with Top Rank,where the two companies reached a co-promotional deal on Parker. Lonergan is said to be the point-man of that deal, so it remains to be seen how that aspect plays out.
There appears to be tension over last Saturday's event, which saw Parker win a decision over late replacement Razvan Cojanu. Parker was originally going to earn $2.4 million for a mandatory defense against Hughie Fury. After Fury withdrew with an injury at the last minute, both Parker and Duco took a big financial hit.
It's being reported that the Parker-Cojanu pay-per-view only generated around 14,000 buys. There were 70,000 buys for Parker's December fight with Andy Ruiz - which saw the New Zealand boxer win the vacant WBO title. Also due to the Fury snafu, the promotion took a big hit with sponsorship money after the late venue switch to the 3000-seat Manukau Events Centre.
The fight with Fury is set to be rescheduled for later in year. The boxer is said to have provided medical proof of his injury and the sanctioning body will keep him in place as the mandatory challenger.