Parker ordinary and limited, says Fury camp
Hughie Fury promoter Frank Warren has kept up his offensive on Joseph Parker’s camp, saying the WBO heavyweight champion ‘‘isn’t living up to his early promise’’ and his ‘‘limitations have been exposed’’.
A day after Warren labelled Parker’s backers Duco Events ‘‘a bunch of amateurs’’ and ‘‘a nightmare’’ to deal with, the veteran British boxing promoter got personal about the unbeaten Kiwi star.
‘‘Parker’s limitations were exposed by his lowly-ranked sparring partner Razvan Cojanu who, without carrying any obvious threat, managed to make the Kiwi look ordinary,’’ Warren wrote in his latest column on his website.
‘‘Despite his current status, Parker isn’t living up to his early promise and I truly believe Hughie will have too much for him.’’
Cojanu was a late replacement for mandatory challenger Fury who pulled out of last weekend’s promotion in Auckland with a back injury, making a messy end to long and difficult negotiations for that date.
Now the two camps have to try to reschedule the mandatory challenge and the ill-feeling that exists promises to make that equally difficult.
‘‘What a shame our man Hughie Fury sustained the untimely back injury that prevented him making the trip to New Zealand,’’ Warren wrote.
‘‘Had he stayed fit I am convinced we would now still be celebrating a new heavyweight champion and the second from the Fury family.
‘‘However, contrary to what the commentators would prefer you to believe, it is still only a matter of time before Hughie can prove he has got the beating of Parker.’’
Duco have talked up their hopes of having Fury step aside temporarily to allow Parker to fight another Brit, pumped up cruiserweight Tony Bellew, in a more lucrative fight that would help build the Kiwi’s profile in the UK. They say that move, ultimately, would help build up the inevitable clash with Fury.
But Warren stressed no one would be jumping the queue to get into the ring with Parker.
‘‘The WBO have made very clear that Hughie is the mandatory challenger and will be fighting Parker next – there will be nothing in-between.
‘‘The financials for the fight can remain as they are or, if Parker’s team want to change it, we can negotiate or go back to purse bids.’’
Under WBO rules the fight has to be held within 120 days of Parker’s last win.
The two camps have 30 days to negotiate under the current situation - a $4.1m purse bid won by Duco back in February – or the mystery envelopes will have to be placed on the table again.