Former trainer pulls no punches
Days out from Joseph Parker’s WBO world heavyweight title fight a key figure in the Kiwi’s career has fired a shot at some of the organisations who are now on his bandwagon.
Grant Arkell was Parker’s amateur boxing trainer.
Arkell helped develop Parker from a 12-year-old kid at the Papatoetoe Boxing Gym to New Zealand’s best amateur heavyweight before he turned pro.
In a frank interview with Fairfax Media, Arkell outlined his frustration with some of the people now cashing in on Parker who had previously turned their back on him.
He said for much of Parker’s time as an amateur, Arkell dipped into his own pocket to help get him to various tournaments because others didn’t have any interest in him or boxing.
In 2011, Parker and Arkell were both set to head to Azerbaijan for the world championships.
A week out, with the real possibility they would have to pull out because of a lack of funding, Arkell decided he would not make the trip. To ease the financial pressure, Parker attended without a coach.
Arkell said he banged on many corporate doors to try to find sponsors for Parker but those doors didn’t open.
‘‘One year we needed $40,000 to get him overseas to the tournaments he needed to go to, but we couldn’t get it. Nobody was interested.
‘‘Some of the sponsors that are there now [supporting Parker] without me naming them - they turned me away.
‘‘I said to them, ‘this guy is going to be big one day’, but they told me they weren’t interested in boxing. Now they are all of a sudden very interested in it.
‘‘He could have won a medal at an Olympics but he never got the support. Nobody believed he could do it. Over my 27 years, Boxing Australia has done more for me than the corporates in New Zealand have.’’
Arkell was delighted Parker had worked his way through the financial battle as an amateur to the point he was now one win away from a world title. However, he believed every year there were boxers in New Zealand with as much potential as Parker quitting the sport because of the lack of support.
Arkell said in a lot of cases the boxers came from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and travel costs ruled them out of progressing.
‘‘I have had better boxers than Joseph, Joseph will tell you that,’’ Arkell said.
‘‘We’ve got so much talent here but nobody wants to help them. They all want to come along when you’ve done all the hard work and spent all of your own money.
‘‘There are 30 boxing gyms in Auckland, eight in south Auckland alone, and they are producing kids like Joseph all of the time. But when they get told it is going to cost them thousands of dollars the
"I'm not a bloody millionaire, I've got five kids and 17 grand-kids to look after." Grant Arkell
parents tell them to go play rugby or league.’’
‘‘We can’t get through to these people with the dollars to throw some money at the youth. All we need is a few thousand dollars a year to get these kids to tournaments and we could develop more Josephs.’’
Arkell estimated he could have bought a second house in Auckland with the amount of his own money he has stumped up over the years to help boxers. That contribution has now stopped.
‘‘I’m not a bloody millionaire, I’ve got five kids and 17 grand-kids to look after, so I’m not ploughing any more money into boxers.
‘‘I’ve got another good one now, a young heavyweight who is showing a lot of promise. But he has been offered some good contracts with rugby league.
‘‘I’m encouraging him to go because it will be a constant financial battle for him for up to 10 years if he chooses boxing.’’
Parker left Arkell’s stable when he turned pro but the pair have remained in contact, mainly via text messages.
Promoters Duco Events have offered Arkell tickets to Saturday night’s WBO world heavyweight title fight against Andy Ruiz Jr in Auckland, but he would instead probably cheer Parker on with some mates at a pub.
‘‘Joseph has asked me to go on his table for some of his fights, which has been good, but I like to watch it with the guys from the gym. We pull it apart and analyse it.
‘‘I enjoy sitting with them rather than people who don’t normally go to boxing and are talking about the nice dress or suit somebody has got on.’’