Junior Fa says Parker is a 'cool kid' who he can't wait to punch in the face, writes Patrick McKendry
Elite professional boxers are defined by their opponents.
Muhammad Ali was defined by fights against fellow greats Joe Frazier, George Foreman and Larry Holmes. Sugar Ray Robinson made Jake LaMotta, the "Raging Bull" immortalised in the movie starring Robert De Niro. In more recent times, heavyweight Deontay Wilder was the reason Tyson Fury's star shone ever brighter.
Closer to home, David Tua evokes images of Lennox Lewis, the former undisputed heavyweight champion, and Shane Cameron, the man he flattened in New Zealand's last great domestic boxing showdown more than a decade ago.
Joseph Parker's most memorable fights were his WBO world heavyweight title victory over Andy Ruiz Jr in Auckland just over four years ago, and, in a very different way, his defeat to Anthony Joshua in Cardiff in 2018.
Junior Fa will be defined by his fight against Parker at Auckland's Spark Arena on February 27 no matter the result.
But while Tua, the Kiwi-Samoan considered by many to be the best heavyweight boxer to never win a world championship (he lost by decision to Lewis in Las Vegas in 2000 and never got another shot), and Parker, a man with a similar heritage who reached the summit with that unanimous victory over Ruiz Jr (who in turn will forever be linked with Joshua after knocking out the world champion and near unbackable favourite in New York in the middle of 2019), Fa is unique in that he was inspired by a rival too.
It was Parker who got Fa, a promising amateur, back into the sport. Nearly every Kiwi boxing fan knows the two south Aucklanders share an amateur record against each other of 2-2, but fewer know Fa, a Kiwi-Tongan, ended his break from boxing to turn professional in 2016 because of Parker's success.
It's not easy breaking into the big-money boxing markets of the United Kingdom and United States from a couple of small islands in the South Pacific. The pitfalls are varied and occasionally brutal. Tua struggled while living away from home in the United States and the rise and fall of Kiwi heavyweight Jimmy "Thunder" Peau is a sad and salutary tale.
But Fa, who quit boxing to focus on his family – wife Talya, son Ezra and daughter Hazel – watched Parker's success once his rival turned professional in 2012 and decided he wanted some of it himself.
At the time Fa was a foreman in a factory which made windows and doors for houses.
"There was always something at the back of my head saying, 'You should be doing this, you're better at boxing'," Fa tells the Herald. "I got the opportunity to come back, I took it, and now life is better."
Fa, 31, is undefeated after 19 professional fights, but hasn't fought the same calibre of opponent as Parker, 29, and that's as much to do with Parker's management team Duco, as his ability.
"All credit to him for being able to do that [winning a world championship] and also all credit to Duco and the team for actually having the guts to pull this off. I guess they had faith in Joe's talent and they backed him 100 per cent.
"They got him to a world title shot and he won it. It all paid off and I really do have to take my hat off to that because it wouldn't have been easy, starting off as a prospect on this side of the world.
"It is somewhat inspiring, you know, and I think it encourages a lot of young people."
There are many reasons why Fa will be a big underdog when he enters the ring against Parker, and the difference in quality of opponents they have faced is just one of them.
Others include the fact that the fight – originally scheduled for last December – has been postponed due to a medical condition affecting Fa which required surgery. Fa's true physical conditioning – he has previously been troubled by health issues which affect his energy in the ring – won't be known until afterwards.
And there is also, well, his niceness.
Fa is the archetypal gentle giant at 1.96m tall and more than 120kg. A smile rarely leaves his lips and his laugh often rings out across the City Kickboxing Gym, where he trains with MMA stars Israel Adesanya and Dan Hooker. He doesn't appear to have a mean bone in his sizable body.
Interestingly, a "lack of killer instinct" is an accusation also levelled at Parker, but in Fa's case it has been fully acknowledged.
In 2017, the Herald visited Fa's two-storey brick home in Papakura after he viciously knocked out American Fred Latham in Ohio a few weeks prior.
Before we visited, Fa had said of the fight which lasted only 67 seconds: "I was like a savage that night. The ref was screaming out 'Stop', but I didn't want to stop. That could have been the first time I've had that feeling towards a person... I walked into the ring with a real killer mentality."
In his lounge, Fa told us of the finish against Latham, which left his previously undefeated opponent out on his feet and propped up by the top rope: "The ref came up to me afterwards and said, 'You've got to be careful, man. When I say stop, you stop'."
Wife Talya added: "We've all been wanting him to have that killer instinct. Even his dad [Uaine, a former top amateur in Tonga] said he's never seen him like that before. He's got the talent, but he often pulls back when he knows he's hurt the other person."
Back then Fa believed one of the reasons for his change in attitude for that fight was the willingness to put on a compelling display for his children. Ezra, a friendly child happy to interact with the home's visitors, had recently been diagnosed with autism.
Did the switch stay flicked? Possibly not; in the six fights he's had since, Fa has stopped only two opponents (overall he has stopped 10 in 19 pro bouts).
In retrospect, Fa's "killer mentality" looks more like a dad inspired to do right by his children on a night everything went right for one man and everything wrong for his opponent.
The apparent friendliness between Fa and Parker that has characterised the build-up to this fight, and which is likely to continue outside of the ring, won't dispel the notion that neither is mean enough for a cut-throat industry, but Fa, who hasn't fought since late 2019, is trying.
"It feels like it's been ages since I've put on the small gloves and felt that type of power against my opponent, my knuckles against someone's face," he says. "I'm looking forward to that feeling again."
I ask him about a recent story in which he is quoted saying something like he wants to "box Parker's head off". "I feel like he's always struggled with my style," Fa replies. "He knows that, given our past… he's always struggled against a mover and a boxer. From what I've seen so far that has been his downfall – trying to fight against taller movers who can box well. I definitely know he'll struggle once again come fight night."
This appears a promising line of inquiry in terms of exploring the rivalry, so I ask about whether Fa's achievements have been given enough credit by Parker and his team, and in particular his coach Kevin Barry, who has long accused Fa of attempting to leverage publicity off Parker's achievements to the point where the veteran trainer refused to utter Fa's name after a Parker fight in Christchurch in 2018.
"I don't know, I don't really think about that, to be honest," Fa says. "The opinions of others don't really affect me too much so I don't put much effort into knowing what they say. I don't know bro, they can believe what they want and think what they want but it's a fight. We're going to get into the ring and punch each other. That's what it is. Talk is talk. Come fight time, actions speak louder than words."
And then: "He's a cool kid, you know," Fa says of Parker. "He's very respectful. He's easy to get along with. We just keep it as it is; it's a sport, a fight, but there's no need to do the whole push-and-shove thing. I don't think that's necessary and I guess he feels the same. It's good to not have to deal with the whole kerfuffle and show off to the media because that allows us to focus on our work."
For Fa, the assignment before him is a considerable one and his family has been through a difficult time recently. Fa's dad Uaine, died in 2019 (just before his last fight, a victory over Devin Vargas in Salt Lake City) and mum Edith lost a sister and nephew to Covid in the United States.
"That gives me another incentive to really give my family something to cheer for," Fa says.
It will be the biggest payday of his career so far. "I'm planning on it being my first big one and build from that," he says. If he wins then a rematch will ensure another very large one. Other opportunities overseas will quickly open up.
"If I get the win it opens the doors on a lot of big fights this year which is what I'm looking forward to."
At their Mt Smart fortress, Auckland FC were mauled 4-0 by Western United