Those subscribing to the theory that Junior Fa is doing everything in his power to avoid fighting Joseph Parker while maintaining the illusion that he truly wants the fight just got some fresh ammo. New Zealand’s Newshub reports that while a deal is “close” and negotiations are in an “advanced stage,” Fa’s side insists that the two fighters wear the same type of gloves, which Parker promoter David Higgins calls a “deal breaker.”
The driving force for this demand is reportedly Fa’s (19-0, 10 KO) coach, City Kickboxing founder Eugene Bareman. The gym features a number of standout UFC fighters, including featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski and middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, and manager Mark Keddell cites this as inspiration.
“Everything’s really even [in the UFC],” Keddell adds. “It pits two men against each other and that’s what we want.”
I don’t need to tell you how stupid and pointless this is, and Higgins doesn’t mince words.
“That’s maybe how UFC works,” says Higgins. “But it’s not how boxing works… we’re not going to change the norms and the conventions and the history of boxing to please the Junior Fa camp.”
The dumbest part of all this is that Fa has no leverage; Parker (27-2, 21 KO) is a former champion, well-known internationally, and infinitely more proven. Fa has zero noteworthy victories as a professional, coasting entirely on two amateur victories over Parker. This is either empty posturing or a grievous overestimation of Fa’s appeal, and I’m guessing the former.