Forget about Parker v Fa
There’s a nice rivalry simmering between Joseph Parker and Junior Fa but it won’t boil over for a long time yet. Truth be told, it’s been brewing since they shared their amateur stoushes 2-2 but with their professional careers charting different directions, it looks unlikely that there will be a collision any time soon.
And nor should they. Right now, they are a class apart with Parker significantly advanced.
Timing is everything in this game and Team Parker will be content to park Fa for a while yet.
It’s not even appropriate to liken Parker-Fa to the rivalry between David Tua and Shane Cameron.
But a closer look at how that blockbuster eventually unfolded might give a better indication of when the current formula could evolve.
Tua was in the twilight of his career and well on the down slope before he agreed to meet Cameron who was arguably at the peak of his powers.
A highly motivated Tua showed his undoubted class to destroy Cameron with a lesson in aggression that took less than four minutes and earned him a payout to help ease the financial losses he should never have suffered.
Four years and five fights later, a Tua lacking motivation was done and dusted.
Parker has another hill to climb right now and he won’t be facing Fa until he’s on the other side of that.
Parker is hell-bent on trying to find a route back to a world title fight and has time on his side to achieve that.
Fa is eager to get in the ring with his Kiwi rival but is sensible enough to concede he needs to get a few decent fights in to earn the right to step up to Parker.
The noise that is being made is coming from the fighters’ bosses, most notably from the Fa camp.
Promoters love to mess with each other, often more than the boxers do, and Mark Keddell (Fa) and David Higgins (Parker) have been doing a decent job throwing jabs.
But money talks loudest in boxing and means there’s always a chance to kiss and make up. There’s also little doubt that the little dog has to bark loudest to get things happening or at least show he has the bite to make a mark. So it’s Fa and Keddell who are baring their teeth.
Parker’s trainer Kevin Barry has made his thoughts clear on where things stand – it’s an insult to mention Parker and Fa in the same breath let alone the same ring at the moment.
Last weekend’s results by both fighters in Christchurch did nothing in terms of getting them together.
Both appeared in tip-top condition and both dispatched lesser opponents in brutal fashion – a method of victory required by Parker and Fa on the back of their more recent performances.
There have been subsequent whispers of something even bigger on the horizon for Fa, even the possibility of him taking on his sparring partner and WBC champion Deontay Wilder.
That’s more far-fetched than calls for Fa and Parker to get in the ring right now.
Wilder has bigger things on his mind in the form of Tyson Fury or Anthony Joshua.
Yes, Fa needs a decent test but it needs to be brought about with the right perspective.
Fa v Parker will eventually happen, but only when it suits Parker.