09-04-2017, 05:15 PM
Joseph Parker discounted in late rush to cash in on world heavyweight title fight
WBO world heavyweight boxing champion Joseph Parker puts his title on the line against Britain's Hughie Fury in Manchester.
Joseph Parker's backers have dropped the pay-per-view TV price for his world heavyweight title defence against Hughie Fury as they face a late rush to cash in on a troubled promotion.
Parker fights Hughie Fury in Manchester on September 24 (NZ time) with his WBO belt on the line.
Less than three weeks out from the bout, Fury's backers at Hennessy Sports are yet to confirm a UK TV deal and ticket sales continue to be sluggish.
The fight has had little buildup in New Zealand with Duco Events saying they were being hamstrung by slow developments out of Britain.
Duco boss David Higgins did confirm the fight would be broadcast in New Zealand on Sky's Arena channel at a cost of $39.95 which is $10-$20 cheaper than Parker's high profile fights in recent years.
Higgins blamed the late payment of the purse bid from the British promoters for the delayed buildup.
"Boxing is a sport that sometimes has credibility issues and I didn't really want to mislead the public advertising the fight till the full purse amount was in my lawyer's account. It now is and expect to see ads go on Sky with a vengeance. We have also taken the price back a bit," Higgins told Stuff, admitting there had been communication struggles in a rearranged promotion after Fury pulled out of the original May date in Auckland citing a back injury.
"We've been able to get scant information. The important thing is the money is in the bank."
The fight logistics are Fury's responsibilities with it being held in Britain. Parker simply has to turn up, though the silver lining to the fight deal for Duco will come in their local TV rights and getting a win that will push their man on to bigger things in the UK market.
"How the fight is organised and how they go about that is their business. We will show up and Joseph will be fully fit and hopefully knock out Hughie," Higgins said.
Duco owns the TV rights for New Zealand, Australia and Samoa with the Fury camp having the rest of the world to try to engage. Hennessy Sports said they would reveal the UK broadcaster on Monday night (NZ time).
But there has been increasing frustration around specialist boxing news websites at the lack of promotion for a genuine world title fight in Fury's backyard.
Fury's most recent self-promotion of the fight has amounted to a strange training video released from his "old school" camp at Lake Windermere and the republication of a letter of encouragement from former Manchester United football boss Sir Alex Ferguson that was originally received in March ahead of the cancelled Auckland fight.
Higgins is hopeful of a late rush to see the promotion match the occasion on fight night in Britain.
"I've not been told the actual figure but the rumour mill suggests they are (struggling)," Higgins said of ticket sales to the 21,000-seat Manchester Arena.
"But then English fans do come out sometimes at the opening of an envelope and it is the heavyweight tile in the second biggest city in the UK and it has got the Fury name. They are probably confident of getting a late run and they probably will. I'd expect the venue to be fairly full."
- Stuff
WBO world heavyweight boxing champion Joseph Parker puts his title on the line against Britain's Hughie Fury in Manchester.
Joseph Parker's backers have dropped the pay-per-view TV price for his world heavyweight title defence against Hughie Fury as they face a late rush to cash in on a troubled promotion.
Parker fights Hughie Fury in Manchester on September 24 (NZ time) with his WBO belt on the line.
Less than three weeks out from the bout, Fury's backers at Hennessy Sports are yet to confirm a UK TV deal and ticket sales continue to be sluggish.
The fight has had little buildup in New Zealand with Duco Events saying they were being hamstrung by slow developments out of Britain.
Duco boss David Higgins did confirm the fight would be broadcast in New Zealand on Sky's Arena channel at a cost of $39.95 which is $10-$20 cheaper than Parker's high profile fights in recent years.
Higgins blamed the late payment of the purse bid from the British promoters for the delayed buildup.
"Boxing is a sport that sometimes has credibility issues and I didn't really want to mislead the public advertising the fight till the full purse amount was in my lawyer's account. It now is and expect to see ads go on Sky with a vengeance. We have also taken the price back a bit," Higgins told Stuff, admitting there had been communication struggles in a rearranged promotion after Fury pulled out of the original May date in Auckland citing a back injury.
"We've been able to get scant information. The important thing is the money is in the bank."
The fight logistics are Fury's responsibilities with it being held in Britain. Parker simply has to turn up, though the silver lining to the fight deal for Duco will come in their local TV rights and getting a win that will push their man on to bigger things in the UK market.
"How the fight is organised and how they go about that is their business. We will show up and Joseph will be fully fit and hopefully knock out Hughie," Higgins said.
Duco owns the TV rights for New Zealand, Australia and Samoa with the Fury camp having the rest of the world to try to engage. Hennessy Sports said they would reveal the UK broadcaster on Monday night (NZ time).
But there has been increasing frustration around specialist boxing news websites at the lack of promotion for a genuine world title fight in Fury's backyard.
Fury's most recent self-promotion of the fight has amounted to a strange training video released from his "old school" camp at Lake Windermere and the republication of a letter of encouragement from former Manchester United football boss Sir Alex Ferguson that was originally received in March ahead of the cancelled Auckland fight.
Higgins is hopeful of a late rush to see the promotion match the occasion on fight night in Britain.
"I've not been told the actual figure but the rumour mill suggests they are (struggling)," Higgins said of ticket sales to the 21,000-seat Manchester Arena.
"But then English fans do come out sometimes at the opening of an envelope and it is the heavyweight tile in the second biggest city in the UK and it has got the Fury name. They are probably confident of getting a late run and they probably will. I'd expect the venue to be fairly full."
- Stuff