Heavyweight boxer Joseph Parker during a training session. Photo / Photosport
Heavyweight boxer Joseph Parker during a training session. Photo / Photosport
Joseph Parker's promoters have announced a deal with American rivals Top Rank which they hope will help make their heavyweight boxer a pay per view star in the United States and beyond.
Parker's profile will rise significantly should he beat Mexican Andy Ruiz Jr for the world title at Auckland's Vector Arena on Saturday, which means there will be very lucrative fights ahead - probably as early as next March or April.
And even if Parker misses out this time, Top Rank founder Bob Arum, the man who used his connections to get the bout sanctioned by the WBO, is set to help his company, and Duco Events, cash in.
Parker could still occasionally fight in New Zealand, but he will more regularly appear in the United Kingdom, the US, Australia and even China where Arum also has strong connections.
Duco's David Higgins and Dean Lonergan hit it off with Arum immediately when they met in Los Angeles for their initial negotiations for Parker v Ruiz Jr, and an alignment around the sharing of television revenue was quickly agreed.
"I don't think we'd do a deal like this with any other promoter," Higgins said. "You'd worry that they had an agenda ... we never felt that way with Bob.
"Bob has such a legacy, particularly in the American market ... television contacts, sponsors, you name it. What he suggested is why don't we allow him to help us when fights are offshore, Bob will handle the American television and that side of the arrangements and we'll share the American revenue.
"And then also when we fight in America, he suggested [that] Duco would keep the Australian and New Zealand TV [revenue] and everything else goes into the pot to be shared. Bob talked about making Joseph a pay per view star in the United States, potentially.
"The deal was simple, made sense, and we're excited about it."
Top Rank founder Bob Arum.
Arum, who turns 85 tomorrow, has been in the fight game since 1966 when he promoted the Muhammad Ali v George Chuvalo fight in Toronto, was reluctant to take future credit for turning Parker into a star, saying: "No promoter can make a fighter a star. A fighter has to make himself a star."
He did say, however, that he thought both Parker and Ruiz Jr were well placed to dominate the division in the short term should they be successful.
"I really think that the winner of this fight probably has the best chance to be the pre-eminent heavyweight," he said. "Parker has natural skills and he's so big and punches so hard; and Andy has the fastest hands that I've seen on a heavyweight since Muhammad Ali."
The announcement came before Parker visited his former school Marcellin College, a welcome return for an old boy who keeps in regular contact with his former teachers.
"School holds a very special place in my heart," Parker told the assembled students and teachers. "I remember sitting in an assembly and one of the old boys came back - [former league and boxing professional] Monty Betham - to speak to us.
" It definitely inspired me with the message that he brought. I thought to myself with my boxing, 'If I give it my best, if I give it 100 per cent, and have the backing of my parents, that I would achieve something good'.
"The power comes from within - and what that means is whatever goals you want to achieve in life, if you give it 100 per cent, stay focused and determined, then you can achieve anything in life."
