Chiefs coach Warren Gatland talks to Sky Sport News.
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COMMENT:
Outside of a title fight, the recipe for a popular, well-watched boxing bout is almost as old as the sport itself; a scrap between two local rivals who don't like each other much.
In the case of a possible match-up between Auckland heavyweights Joseph Parker and Junior Fa, aformer world champion against an undefeated professional, a Samoan against a Tongan, two men with a chilly relationship who share a four-fight amateur history (two wins each), this recipe may be given a twist by the arrival of a new broadcasting player.
That DAZN, the ambitious global outfit coming to New Zealand in May with a first offering of Canelo Alvarez's fight against probable opponent Billy Joe Saunders, is here to shake things up in the world of sports streaming will come as no surprise to anyone with even a smidgeon of knowledge of its billionaire founder Sir Leonard Blavatnik, a man who generally gets what he wants.
DAZN's first fight in New Zealand is effectively a soft launch. The company, described as the "Netflix of sports", offers a relatively affordable monthly subscription rather than what for boxing is a more traditional pay-per-view model.
Joseph Parker after his win against Shawndell Winters. Photo / Photosport
It will likely attract few subscribers here for the Alvarez fight, even allowing for the four-weight Mexican's global popularity.
Parker v Fa would, though, and that's why this fight could happen sooner rather than later as it is the perfect vehicle for hoovering up Kiwi subscribers. There will also be relatively big interest in Australia.
It's probably no coincidence that a possible match-up between the pair has been mooted only days after DAZN announced it will be coming to New Zealand, although Parker's manager David Higgins told the Herald that he had held no formal discussions with the company.
New Zealand's Sky TV has broadcast all of Parker's 27 professional fights, including his WBO world title win against Andy Ruiz Jr in Auckland in 2016 and his world unification defeat to Anthony Joshua in Cardiff two years later, two fights which reaped a similar amount of pay per view revenue as the "Fight of the Century" between David Tua and Shane Cameron at Mystery Creak in 2009 (due to the increased prices), but not the number.
The Tua v Cameron viewership has not been officially released but it is believed to be around 88,000 buys. It remains one of the highest per capita in the world.
As the incumbent broadcaster, Sky will feature in the broadcasting negotiations for this fight, tentatively slated for June, but the depth of its pockets is likely to be thoroughly tested.
Junior Fa during his fight against Rogelio Omar Rossi. Photo / Photosport
As for the fight itself, one that will happen sooner or later, and hopefully sooner as Fa's current unbeaten professional record gives it an extra edge, the eventual result is almost irrelevant for the broadcaster because the build-up and hype surrounding it will likely rival or even surpass that of the Tua v Cameron extravaganza.
There would be a nice symmetry too as Parker, the former WBO world champion, enters what is probably the final third of his career.
Hours before the Tua v Cameron fight, Parker's now manager Higgins, who had promised both men $500,000 each for the fight (a daring echo of Don King's tactics in signing Muhammad Ali and George Foreman for 1974's Rumble in the Jungle), was virtually bankrupt. And then the pay per view buys started coming in, and in, and in.
It was Higgins' first fight promotion and what was a deep hole quickly became a mountain of cash. Higgins went on to help launch Parker's career as his promoter and Parker became the heavyweight champion of the world.
