Joseph Parker vs. Hughie Fury a possibility

By Boxing News - 12/26/2016 - Comments

Image: Joseph Parker vs. Hughie Fury a possibility

By Scott Gilfoid: Unbeaten #2 WBO Hughie Fury (20-0, 10 KOs) is waiting for a call to get the fight against WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker (22-0, 18 KOs), according to John Fury, the father of former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. The World Boxing Organization moved Hughie up to No.2 in their rankings now, with David Haye at No.1 However, Haye chose to fight cruiserweight Tony Bellew on March 4, so that puts Hughie in position to potentially get the title shot against the 24-year-old Parker. This would be Parker’s first defense of his WBO heavyweight title. Hughie would be a fairly easy title defense for Parker if the fight gets made.

#6 WBO David Price and #4 WBO Jarrell Miller is also in the running for a shot against Parker.

John said this to Knucle-up TV in talking about Hughie waiting on a call from Parker’s management:

“He’s training to hopefully land a world title challenge in the New Year, and he’s waiting on news coming back,” said John Fury about Hughie Fury. “He’s just waiting for the phone call.”

Hughie, 22, has been out of the ring since his 7th round technical decision win over Fred Kassi last April. That’s not good news that Hughie hasn’t fought since then. He suffered a cut eye in that fight which caused the match to be stopped in the 7th. Hughie was exhausted at the time the fight was stopped. We heard excuses about why Hughie faded in the fight. I personally didn’t buy the excuses. But it’s kind of sad that Hughie hasn’t fought since then.

How in the world does Hughie get a title shot off the back of his performance against Kassi? Hughie was awful in that fight and he probably would have been knocked out if not for him suffering the cut from a head-butt. Without the fight being stopped on a cut, I think Kassie would have gotten to Hughie and taken him out in the last quarter of the fight. That wouldn’t have been good, but that’s how boxing goes. If you don’t have the talent or the stamina, then you get beat.

In speaking about the failed negotiations for a fight between Hughie and IFL heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in 2016, John said, “They offered very little money compared to what Joshua was getting. Make no mistake; Joshua was entitled to the lion’s share. He’s the one selling the tickets. Good luck to him, but there are other opportunities for us. Joseph Parker is the new WBO champion. He’s more likely to come through than the rest of them,” said John.

Parker won the vacant WBO heavyweight title on December 10 in beating Andy Ruiz Jr. by a 12 round majority decision. It was a pretty close fight. The judges felt that Parker took over the fight in the second half after Ruiz Jr. stopped throwing as many punches. It was still a questionable decision that could have gone either way. With Parker fighting at home in Auckland, New Zealand, it put him in the driver’s seat to get the narrow win. The judges scored the fight 115-113, 114-114, and 115-113.

Hughie was offered a title shot against IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua earlier in 2016, but he says he was given a small offer of just $200,000, which he felt was too small compared to the money Joshua was going to make from the fight.

“Eddie Hearn offered the fight,” said Hughie Fury to BoxNation about a fight against Jacobs. “To be honest with you, he offered a couple hundred thousand. At the end of the day, that’s ridiculous. He’s going to make about $8 million. Do you think I’m fighting for peanuts here? I’m a young fighter, 20-0. I’d take the fight, but he’s $8 million and I’m 200,000 grand. it’s nothing. I could see fair enough if he’s fighting for $800,000, and I’m fighting for $400,000. If it was kind of close, but obviously it wasn’t. He’s fighting a bunch of stiffs, fellows who stand in front of him. He doesn’t want a proper opponent. Anyone that can move in front of him, he doesn’t want, because it’s a nightmare for him. He’s a big man, he can hit. He’s a power house. Listen, they do not want the fight with me full stop. I am a young man, 22-years-old. I will be a world champion. I’ve got the best team behind me,” said Hughie.

You can’t blame Hughie for turning down an offer of just $200K if Joshua was going to make millions off the fight. I don’t know about Joshua making $8 million. That sounds like a crazy number for a fight against Hughie, but you never know. I think the fight would have drawn a lot of interest on Sky Box Office pay-per-view, with Hughie being the cousin of Tyson Fury. But, it would hardly be fair if all Hughie was going to get was $200K compared to $8 million for Joshua.

I wonder if that was just guaranteed money with Hughie still getting a percentage of the PPV cash from Sky Box Office. If that were the case, then it might not be a bad deal after all. But if Joshua if the percentage only kicks in for Hughie after Joshua has received his $8 million from the PPV money, then maybe it wouldn’t be such a good deal. I think a lot of boxing fans would have purchased the fight, but I don’t know if there would be enough for Hughie to get much money after Joshua has received $8 million.