Fa from done ’n’ dusted, Junior trusts process
Junior Fa is trusting the process as his boxing clash with Lucas Browne draws closer. “The process is to beat him up.” The Kiwi heavyweight will meet the former WBA interim champion at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne on June 5 as part of the card headlined by the undisputed lightweight title fight between George Kambosos Jr and Devin Haney. Fa (19-1) will be one of three Kiwis on the card. Also fighting will be his teammate from Auckland’s City Kickboxing gym Hemi Ahio (18-0), against American Joe Jones (13-4), while Commonwealth Games champion David Nyika (2-0) will be making his third professional appearance, against an opponent yet to be confirmed.
It will be Fa’s first bout since dropping a decision to Joseph Parker in February last year.
After a long layoff, he believes a statement win will open plenty of doors. “I’m always pushing for fights, I’m always keeping myself in the gym, I’m always trying to keep as active as I can. It’s just up to my team and promoter to try get me these fights,” Fa said yesterday.
“In this fight I plan to perform a lot better so the fights come easier, so I can get paid more, so I can be out in the ring more. It will just be good to do what I do instead of training all the time.”
Since his loss to Parker, Fa has been working hard, noting he needs to win his bouts in more emphatic fashion.
“Just to win more convincingly, that’s what I feel like is lacking,” he explained. “Being a bit more convincing with my wins, showing a bit more skill, showing a bit more power, and they will see that come June 5. “I feel like the knockout will come, either by me dropping him or by him submitting — I just plan on punching his face the whole night, really. Punch the face, body, just taking anything that’s there.”
In Browne, Fa meets a dangerous opponent. In 30 wins, Browne boasts 26 knockouts and several of those have come late in the bout.
While he has mixed results lately — including a first-round knockout loss against former NRL star turned TV pundit Paul Gallen — Fa knows the ability of the fighter he is up against and isn’t reading too much into his recent results.
“It doesn’t matter what I believe; I’m training for the best Lucas Browne that I’ve seen. I’ve seen him win that WBA interim title, I saw him come back and knock people out before — I’ve seen that a lot in his fights; he gets tagged throughout the fight, but he always comes back strong and finishes people.
“I have to make sure I’m prepared for that, prepared for the rounds and prepared to just beat him up until he gives up.”