Samoa PM courts Parker title fight

Samoa Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi is talking up a late bid to move Joseph Parker’s WBO title fight against Hughie Fury from Auckland to Apia.

The fight is laid down for Auckland’s Vector Arena on May 6.

With Auckland and the New Zealand government not interested in providing any funding for the fight, Parker’s promoter David Higgins, co-owner of Duco Events, is in Samoa for toplevel discussions.

While they are likely to be more around a cash injection similar to Samoa’s late financial boost for Parker’s world title win against Andy Ruiz in Auckland last December, Tuilaepa is thinking big.

‘‘The promoters [of the fight] are in the country. They are here to see and ask whether it is possible to bring the fight here to Samoa,’’ Tuilaepa told the Samoa Observer yesterday.

‘‘Having it here is not the problem.

‘‘But the only thing we need to look at is the money. That’s the only thing we need to look at.’’

Duco won a purse bid of $4.1m to stage the fight, but there would be additional costs involved.

Tuilaepa said Samoa had recently proved it was capable of holding major events, pointing to Parker’s fight there early last year, the 2015 test against the All Blacks, the United Nations conference and the imminent Super Rugby clash between the Blues and Reds.

Duco aren’t willing to get in a public discussion while talks continue.

Ticket and corporate sales for the fight in Auckland have opened strongly and it would need to be a strong case to abandon New Zealand at this late stage.

But, if the price was right, it wouldn’t be impossible.

Auckland-born Parker has Samoan parents and the country honoured him with a victory parade after his world title win.