Junior Fa has been described by his well-regarded trainer Eugene Bareman as a "monster" of an athlete who could have a physical and perhaps even mental edge over Joseph Parker should the pair meet in the boxing ring.
As talks continue over a fight between Kiwi-Tongan Fa, an undefeated heavyweight contender, and former world champion Parker, a New Zealand-Samoan, Bareman – probably best known for his work in helping Israel Adesanya to the UFC world middleweight championship – has spoken to the Herald about the attributes of the two big men who would stop a nation should they square off this year.
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New Zealand's success in containing Covid-19, which will lead to the loosening of restrictions around professional sport, makes the possibility of a domestic showdown between Fa and Parker more likely – in theory anyway. Fa's promoter Lou DiBella has shown interest, and the bout would make waves around the world as perhaps the first most significant boxing event in a post-coronavirus world.
The twin hurdles of money and the willingness of Parker's promoter Eddie Hearn to allow his fighter to get in the ring with Fa rather than a higher-profile overseas opponent remain but may not be insurmountable.
Likewise, Bareman believes his man has a better than even chance against Parker who was on top of the world after beating Andy Ruiz Jr in late 2016 and who has a more impressive record than Fa.
"Ideally, I would like a couple more fights before we fought Joseph but if we had to jump in there now I believe that Junior could beat Joseph," Bareman told the Herald.
"Junior is the type of fighter that has given Joseph problems. He has a superior reach, and an ability to box. He has physical advantages.
"Junior as an athlete is a monster and it doesn't matter how you measure that – his power, one-rep max, sprint, even longer endurance. He excels amazingly at all those athletic feats."
Famously, Fa and Parker have fought each other four times as amateurs with two wins each but Bareman said his man could have a psychological edge because one of those defeats should have gone the other way.
"You always hold a psychological edge over someone you've beaten," he said. "How much depends on the individual but there's always that edge there. Before my tenure with Junior, I was lucky enough to witness one of those fights – one of those that Junior lost. Funnily enough at the end of that fight, everyone at the ABA Stadium had the same bewildered look on their face that I did. Almost everyone thought Junior won quite convincingly."
Thirty-year-old Fa, undefeated over 19 professional fights, has been troubled by health issues and inconsistency over his career and Bareman readily admits that has held Fa back.
"My job as a coach is to get Junior performing consistently. When he's on he could be a world-beater but when he's off, he's off by quite a bit. There have been health issues which have helped account for some of that inconsistency. But, to be fair, at other times we've taken care of the health issues and there has still been inconsistency. If we can get a world-class performance consistently then you can't bet against Junior beating Joseph Parker."
But Bareman, now in hot demand due to his work with Adesanya and fellow members of Auckland's City Kickboxing gym, including Dan Hooker, also had praise for Parker, a 28-year-old with a 27-2 record on his way back after those two back-to-back defeats to Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte in 2018.
"He has a good amount of power – and I'm talking world-class level power. He can hurt you. He's not necessarily a one-punch [knockout artist] like a George Foreman or Mike Tyson, but he garners enough respect for his punches that puts him at a world-class level where you can't get hit by him.
"He has good hand speed. But what I think is one of Joseph's biggest attributes is his bravery and willingness to try to win a fight. In the heavyweight division, where these guys are capable of such destruction, you see many fighters' will to participate falter. Joseph will bite down and really try to win a contest even if it means going out on his shield. Not a lot of people in that division are willing to do that.
"It makes him dangerous – especially for someone who primarily wants to stop him from coming in and getting inside. Joseph will be willing to take risks to do that. The one criticism is the Joshua fight but even in that fight I do believe he tried, he just wasn't able to be successful."
In the Whyte fight a few months later in London, Parker was stunned by both an unintentional headbutt and legitimate knockdown but fought back to drop Whyte in the final round and nearly win it.
"People don't understand that when you get hit by these guys who have been training to hit people for their entire lives – and they're already athletic specimens – when you get hit by them it does something different to your heart, to your will to keep going. It's not like a welterweight or bantamweight… it's completely different, a different fear."
Parker would be favoured to beat Fa but the beauty of the heavyweight division is that upsets are more likely and, regardless, such are the personalities involved, for example Bareman versus Parker's trainer Kevin Barry, the pre-fight hype would reach David Tua v Shane Cameron levels. That fight in 2009 remains the most popular pay-per-view event in New Zealand's history.
"Post-coronavirus, it would be huge for the country," Bareman said of the domestic scrap. "It would be an opportunity for the country to come together.
"Sometimes it takes sports to bring everyone together and get our patriotism to a level where it should be. This would be the perfect vehicle. It would have to be within the top five fights to ever happen in New Zealand boxing history. It would be a chance for the country to get behind two guys.
"You'd think boxing isn't the sport that can do that but you only have to think back to when David Tua fought Shane Cameron not that long ago – it gripped and galvanised a nation."
