Marlborough Express - Weekend Express
Fa impresses despite loss
My Vodafone Warriors drew 12-12 with the Gold Coast Titans in an NRL trial but I had to record it because I was one of the 8000-odd at Spark Arena in Auckland for the heavyweight bout between Joseph Parker and Junior Fa.
It was good to see some of the new signings putting in a decent shift, former Dragons centre Euan Aitken looking dangerous on attack and solid on defence, and new props Addin Fonua-Blake and Ben Murdoch-Masila making plenty of metres.
But it was the same old story, if it weren’t for bad luck we wouldn’t have any at all, with hooker Wayde Egan suffering an elbow injury.
In Super Rugby the Blues dusted the Hurricanes 31-16 in Wellington in a game more noted for a very odd decision when the touchies ruled out a perfectly good conversion for the Hurricanes.
And the Crusaders looked like there hadn’t even been an offseason, dealing to the Highlanders 26-13 in Dunedin.
But all eyes were on the boxing and I want to give a shout-out to Junior Fa. They say people wear their hearts on their sleeves but Junior wears his on his trunks, with the word ‘Autism’ emblazoned across the back, a reference to his son, who suffers from the condition.
He enters the ring to Don’t Worry Be Happy, an unusual choice in a game that features boxers more likely to enter to Eye of the Tiger than a song all about relaxing.
But for Junior it’s easy, the song is his son’s favourite, telling the crowd after his loss to Parker that if they could see him muttering to himself during the fight and wondered what it was all about, he was merely voicing his son’s name.
He also took every chance in the build-up to advocate for people to treat each other with kindness because it’s impossible to know what conditions those you meet suffer from.
But his chance to leapfrog Parker in the world rankings ended in brave defeat after 12 rounds.
Parker must now try to get himself back on to a world stage so that another tilt at a title becomes possible.
He looked comfortable throughout without ever really putting his stamp on it, and months of inactivity and the ring rust it brings might be behind that, but whatever lies ahead he will have to be a lot more exciting than he was on Saturday.
The highlight though was meeting America’s Cup skipper Jimmy Spithill, because I attended a diabetes function recently at which he was guest speaker, and he went from the man everyone loves to hate, to having the audience eating out of his hand.
On the night a young girl from south Auckland shared her journey with diabetes and after the fundraiser Jimmy got in touch with the organiser, my old partner Rod Slater, later emailing her about what an inspiration she was, how impressed he had been with her and telling her he would be a very happy parent if his own children grew up to display her courage.
I’m sure that must have given her a huge boost.
And I also know he donated his time when he turned up to help an Auckland Grammar School fundraising event.
Jimmy has been training and sparring with Monty Betham, who speaks highly of him, and while I still want Emirates Team New Zealand to give him a hiding, I have developed a lot of respect for Jimmy too.
And then I met UFC champion Israel ‘‘The Last Stylebender’’ Adesanya at ringside, and was impressed by his commitment to the Fa team, his willingness to chat with people, and his patience with the endless stream of people wanting a picture – including me.
Yes he is a showman but that’s all part of the sport he excels at.
Of course by the time we got out of the boxing, news of another lockdown had hit.
What is there to say except follow the rules. We are all in this together, so be kind, scan-in, social distance, wash your hands and stay at home and I will catch you next week.