Parker's Promoter: They'll All Want to Fight Joe Even More Now
By Keith Idec
Joseph Parker’s promoters know they won’t be short of options after his uninspiring win over Hughie Fury on Saturday night.
David Higgins, who co-promotes Parker along with Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc., expects every heavyweight within reason to want to fight Parker next. New Zealand’s Parker (24-0, 18 KOs) defeated Fury (20-1, 10 KOs) by majority decision in Manchester, England, but the unbeaten WBO champion’s 12-round victory wasn’t exactly an impressive performance.
“They’ll all want to fight Joe even more now,” Higgins told Sky Sports on Thursday. “They will underestimate him, because Hughie is the sort of guy that you’ll take the distance.”
Despite how he looked against Manchester’s Fury, Parker is in position to make major money for another title fight in England. Higgins mentioned facing the winner of the December 10 rematch between British rivals Tony Bellew (29-2-1, 19 KOs) and David Haye (28-3, 26 KOs) at O2 Arena in London.
“Bellew is fighting Haye, I think,” Higgins said, “and so we could look at the winner of that.”
Their ultimate goal for Parker remains a championship unification fight against Anthony Joshua, the IBF/IBO/WBA champion. London’s Daily Mirror reported Monday that promoters for Parker and Joshua already have started discussing a July showdown at Wembley Stadium in London.
“Joshua is the sort of fight, a unification fight,” Higgins said, “that we could look at next year, provided both guys keep winning.”
A crowd of roughly 90,000 attended Joshua’s unforgettable battle against former heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley Stadium on April 29. England’s Joshua (19-0, 19 KOs), who overcame a sixth-round knockdown to stop Klitschko (64-5, 53 KOs) in the 11th round, must beat Bulgaria’s Kubrat Pulev (25-1, 13 KOs) in a mandatory defense of his IBF title October 28 at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, to remain on track for a possible Parker fight.
“It sounds amazing,” Higgins said. “We would love to be part of an event like that.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
