Fa’s trainer: Parker camp not taking fight seriously
Junior Fa’s trainer Eugene Bareman has launched a scathing attack on Joseph Parker and his team, accusing them of not taking the fight seriously.
The all-Kiwi fight was to take place on December 12 at Spark Arena, but, because of a mysterious illness to Fa, the bout has been delayed.
Parker’s manager, David Higgins, yesterday revealed the fight will now take place either late February or early March.
Fa will have an unspecified operation today and his manager,
Mark Keddell, said they noticed something was up after a poor training session recently.
‘‘Junior had a tough session the other day and we had a problem afterwards that caused an issue internally with him,’’ Keddell said. ‘‘So we got some blood tests done, they came back on Monday and the fight doctor wouldn’t allow him to fight.’’
Parker’s trainer, Kevin Barry, said Parker was on track to hit his peak by mid-December and he and all his camp were disappointed by the delay.
‘‘We’d got 50 rounds of sparring in,’’ Barry said. ‘‘Joe was looking better in the gym every week and all the signs were there that we’d be peaking by December 12.
‘‘He will now stay out of the boxing gym for the next five-six weeks.’’
Yesterday’s press conference was fairly sedate until Bareman came forward, making an accusation that it will be Fa who’ll be disadvantaged by the delay, because Parker’s camp weren’t showing his fighter enough respect before. He also hit out at Higgins.
‘‘One thing we’ve been reminded of through the renegotiating of this fight is that this is 100 per cent the Higgins show,’’ Bareman said.
‘‘We’re the b-side of this, to get to the point where we are now, it’s cordial up here now, but it’s a s*** fight backstage to get this to where we are now.
‘‘David experienced this when Joseph fought Anthony Joshua. He had Eddie Hearn on his ass and now he’s paying it back to us and giving some back.
‘‘Eddie Hearn was on him, now he’s on us, making us work hard for every little thing we’ve got.
‘‘We lose the main advantage we had and that was these guys weren’t taking this fight seriously,’’ he said.
‘‘You know that by Kevin Barry taking his time coming back. We were already training for four weeks before they decided to bring their trainer back.
Higgins, who is used to trash talk before a big fight, brushed aside Bareman’s criticism.
‘‘You almost had me feeling sorry for him, but the reality is we’re the financial underwriters for the show. We’re taking all of the risks,’’ he said.
‘‘Frankly we’re p***** off with the carry on from their camp. They p***** us around. So do I feel sorry for them about the changes? No, not at all.’’
may also have been limited by the Bledisloe draw in Wellington and back-to-back losses to the Wallabies and Pumas in Australia.
If the All Blacks had wrapped up the Tri-Nations after three games, the final test against Argentina this weekend would have been a prime chance to give some less experienced players a
chance.
However, that looks like a remote possibility as the All Blacks try to finish their year on a high.
It has been amessy old year, and it is perhaps fitting that it will end with some loose ends.
In an ideal scenario, the All Blacks would finish their season by getting some significant minutes into players who have the ability to make a significant contribution to the 2021 campaign.
This year? Not so much.