Higgins confident? You bet he is
Marc Hinton For the first time in his life, fast-talking Kiwi boxing promoter David Higgins was forced to negotiate down when he found himself in a tight spot at the end of an otherwise uneventful pre-fight media event.
The official press conference for the Joseph Parker-Dillian Whyte heavyweight matchup had been meandering to a rather tame end by the standards of modern boxing events, when veteran British heavyweight Dereck Chisora intervened to take things in an unexpected direction.
Chisora, who is fighting respected Frenchman Carlos Takam in the feature undercard contest, ended official proceedings by challenging Higgins and Whyte’s promoter, Matchroom raconteur Eddie Hearn, to place a sidebet on the fight.
Chisora suggested a friendly £100,000 (NZ$193,000) between the money men, but when Higgins protested that ‘‘I don’t have 100 grand’’ he lowered the wage to £20,000 (NZ$38,660). Eventually, somewhat reluctantly, Higgins agreed to take the punt with a firm handshake.
While this was going on Whyte suggested that Higgins had the cash to stump up because ‘‘you’re taking 30 percent of his money’’. He even asked the Kiwi promoter if this was true. ‘‘These details are confidential,’’ replied Higgins.
Later, Higgins said he was happy to take the £20,000 bet because he was confident he would be the one collecting late tomorrow at the soldout O2 Arena.
He denied that the stake had been lowered even further through subsequent back and forth between the two master negotiators who have a healthy amount of respect for each other.
‘‘It’s a £20,000 bet. When we win I’ll be looking for 20K off Eddie,’’ Higgins said. Later, Higgins said of Chisora: ‘‘Man, he’s a character. I said to him are you guys all good, he was ‘hell no, if I found that guy in the street I bash him’. They have a beef, right?’’