09-21-2017, 08:55 AM
(09-21-2017, 04:13 AM)U.K. Fight Fan Wrote:(09-20-2017, 12:28 PM)shamrock Wrote:(08-23-2017, 12:57 PM)diehard Wrote: Joseph Parker trainer Kevin Barry: Hughie Fury 'was never going to come to NZ'
Kevin Barry has rubbed a bit of salt into the long and heated buildup to Joseph parker's WBO world heavyweight title defence against Hughie Fury.
Kevin Barry has opened an old wound, claiming Hughie Fury was never ready to fight in New Zealand and had regularly ducked Joseph Parker.
Fury, the mandatory challenger to Parker's WBO world heavyweight belt, controversially pulled out of a May title fight in Auckland at late notice, citing a back injury.
Fury got medical backing to retain his No 1 contender position and now conveniently fights Parker for the world title in his own backyard of Manchester on September 23.
Barry has upped the war of words heading into the highly anticipated clash, echoing the angry reaction from Parker's backers Duco Events earlier in the year as the English boxer scuttled their Auckland promotion.
"He wasn't ready. It was a calculated move on the part of his team," Barry told a boxing voice when asked why Fury failed to front in Auckland.
"He wasn't ready to come down to New Zealand and fight Joseph Parker in his backyard.
"The way it worked out, he is now fighting in his home town. Sometimes you have got to be careful what you wish for.
"We know that he was never going to come to New Zealand, but I can promise you this ... we are going to be in Manchester."
As to where Fury stood in terms of toughness for Parker, Barry couldn't resist a dig at the lanky 22-year-old Brit who, like the Kiwi, is unbeaten.
"Time will tell. Hughie is a good guy, a good fighter, he's a young guy who is developing. But we have fought some real guys, we have fought opponents that other people don't want to fight."
Barry then revealed that Fury had long been on their radar.
"We have been trying to fight Hughie Fury for a long time. We put the offer out there in Joe's second year as a pro, his third year as a pro. Every time we'd say, 'Hey Hughie, we're ready' the response was always 'No, I'm not ready for that fight'," Barry told thaboxingvoice.
"So this is a guy that we have looked at for a long time. We know his strengths, we know his weaknesses.
"But he has never felt the power that he is going to feel in this fight He has never seen the speed of Joseph Parker, he has never seen the physical work of a fighter like Joseph Parker. This is really his (Fury's) biggest test ever."
Despite the unwanted delays to this compulsory title defence, Barry sees a real silver lining to having to fight Fury on the other side of the world.
Asked if Parker was going to have to go to Manchester to make the fight happen, Barry replied: "Yeah, it probably was. But the flip side of that is we have been trying to get to the UK for the last 18 months.
"It was always our plan to campaign in the UK, there are a lot of very good fights there for us and this is the beginning. This is really going to put Joseph Parker on the boxing scene in the UK. After we take care of Fury there are other guys we are coming after.
"We are coming after Tony Bellew. We are going to be fighting Anthony Joshua. That fight is going to happen ... Joseph Parker is going to be standing in front of him one day in the ring."
- Stuff
(09-20-2017, 11:49 AM)Nigs Wrote: that was very staged and highly embarassing.I thought Higgins did a good job
Higgins looked like the drunk girls on a saturday night trying to talk shit, then they get put in their place and stand there and ignore the world.
He did a good job of looking like a drunk Sinead O'conner.
Sinead is sick