Rivals engage in verbal jabs
Junior Fa’s camp has attempted to stir the pot over Joseph Parker’s relationship with long-time trainer Kevin Barry ahead of Saturday’s heavyweight clash in Auckland.
Barry has been in Parker’s corner for all-but four of the former WBO champion’s 29 professional bouts and the pair have always been very close.
But that hasn’t stopped sections of Parker’s fan base speculating on social media about whether he could do with a new voice in his corner, particularly following back-to-back defeats, against Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte in 2018.
Fa trains out of City Kickboxing in Auckland, which, as home of UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, has enjoyed tremendous success in mixed martial arts.
Fa is the most high-profile boxer on their books, but they have also built a strong team of up-and-coming pugilists who have been making inroads in the domestic scene.
Asked at yesterday’s press conference if he felt his team had a better approach than
Barry, City
Kickboxing coach
Eugene Bareman replied by saying
Parker had previously asked about checking out his gym before jokingly suggesting he become a member.
‘‘Joseph has said to me that he wanted to come to City Kickboxing. You have to talk to him about at what capacity. Maybe he just wanted to have a cup of tea with me, maybe he just wanted to train, we never got into the details,’’ Bareman said.
‘‘But I will email him the gym fees tomorrow and he can look over them. If he can afford it, which I think he can, then he can join the gym like everybody else.’’
Parker brushed off the exchange with his own tongue-in-cheek remark, saying: ‘‘I think we discussed a cup of tea and then more so when I beat Junior I can use them for sparring and we can help each other. So that’s the only reason that I’ll be there.’’
Barry, however, refused to take the bait, insisting any attempt to rattle their tight-knit camp ahead of fightnight would not have the desired affect.
‘‘It’s very, very common this close to a fight that the other team, their fighters or the people around the team make comments to deflect from the fight, to try and raise an emotional response, to try and get you to lose your focus,’’ Barry said.
‘‘Right at the moment, Joseph, myself, David Higgins and our whole team are very, very focused. We understand the significance of this fight. We aren’t going to be dragged into any out-of-the-ring discussions. Our focus is inside the ring, as you will see on Saturday night.’’
Bareman, who heads City Kickboxing’s MMA programme, has been assisting Fa’s head trainer Doug Viney throughout their training camp. He rejected suggestions that training with mixed martial artists such as Adesanya and UFC newcomer Carlos Ulberg was not ideal for such a highprofile boxing bout.
While the gym’s UFC stars tend to dominate media attention, Bareman said they have also amassed ‘‘one of the best boxing teams in the country’’, including undefeated heavyweight Hemi Ahio and several highly rated amateurs.
This has ensured Fa is in prime condition for the biggest fight of his life.