The theme this week is fall guys.
Solomon Haumono
Lets' face it. Former league forward Haumono has been hired to get knocked out by Joseph Parker - either that or fall over with exhaustion.
The shame about Haumono isn't his struggles as a boxer - his record looks way better than the reality - but a league career which didn't sustain the extraordinary heights it promised as a giant wrecking ball.
The man was derailed by serious issues, particularly addiction, which took Haumono and those around him to hell and back. To his credit Haumono appears to have dealt with this admirably.
As Parker's next project, Haumono has played his part perfectly so far. Fighters have to talk tough and Haumono has dutifully raved about his own power punching.
But Haumono is a patsy. He's a 40-year-old who is going to get his ass kicked by a much younger man with reasonable although not overwhelming world title ambitions, a rising 24-year-old with a lot to lose.
Parker needs a looming contest to keep training interesting, to stay focussed and fight ready. His backers might as well get another pay day.
Finding universally accepted rankings is difficult in boxing. But box-rec, a boxing data site, rates Parker at nine amongst the world's heavyweights and Haumono at 74.
Haumono is the perfect fall guy. He's a name, he looks in reasonable shape, he'll draw publicity in Australasia, and he has barely got a lucky-punch chance.
This bout makes sense in one way, but it's also out of kilter with Parker's promotion and development as a quality heavyweight.
Parker v Takam was a terrific contest. I can't help but feel that we were promised more however, that Takam was a step up and Haumono is a step backwards. That's boxing though, a mysterious and tricky world to navigate where one punch can change everything.
Steven Adams