The Entente Cordial in British boxing lasted about 20 minutes. If people thought Thursday’s announcement of a fight between Joe Joyce and Joseph Parker – a contest that sees a Sky/Boxxer signed fighter appear on a BT/Queensberry show – was about to signal a new world where people get round a table for the good of boxing, the atmosphere remains decidedly frosty.
Frank Warren had originally requested to leave unsaid the rancor that saw the fight, originally planned for July, collapse, but once Adam Moralee, of Joyce’s management team SJAM, got stuck into his feeling about how difficult Parker’s team (and in particular David Higgins) had been, the gloves were off.
The facts are basically this. Warren and Parker shook hands on the fight during the week of Tyson Fury v Dillian Whyte. But just as the fight – to be shown on BT Box Office – was about to be announced, Parker signed with Boxxer, the in-house promoters for Sky. Deal off.
Today came confirmation that the fight was back on. It will take place at Manchester Arena on September 24, with BT Box Office showing it, after a deal was hammered out between George Warren, Frank’s son, and Ben Shalom, of Boxxer.
Shalom declared this showed that rivals could work together to make the fights people want to see. But the positivity only went so far.
After Parker hit back at Moralee, Warren accused Parker of walking away from a deal, Parker accused Warren of changing the deal, something he denied.
It all rather took the gloss off what is an interesting heavyweight fight between the WBO’s top two contenders.
“It’s a very important fight, WBO No 1 v No 2,” Warren said. “These are not two ordinary Joes. The winner will be the mandatory for the fight on August 20 (Oleksandr Usyk v Anthony Joshua).
“It is not just two guys having a fight, there is a big prize at the end of it. Joe has got a fantastic engine, a great chin. He walks through walls, he absorbs punches I wish sometimes he wouldn’t. He has probably the best nickname in boxing, the Juggernaut, he just keeps rolling on.
“Joseph Parker has a great engine and he comes to fight. What went on behind the scenes went on, we’ve been busy. Joe has been very patient and kept his eye on the prize. All that matters now is that these guys are going to be in the ring on September 24.”
But things started getting tetchy when Parker denied he had ducked the fight.
“It’s a fight I have always wanted. It’s a fight Joe wanted, It’s a fight I wanted. I start camp with Andy Lee next week,” Parker said.
“A lot of people can say I ducked the fight, but that we are now here shows I wanted the fight.”
Warren accused Parker of reneging on a deal, but Parker said the deal was changed, something Warren denied.
“He shook my hand at £1.5 million and I told my whole team,” Parker said. “You were going to make me the B fighter.”
Warren replied: “You’ve got it all wrong, he’s No 1 [in the WBO rankings], you’re No 2.
“Twice I told my son to walk away because of the bullshit. But we persevered because we wanted the fight.”
Parker also said that the deal for this fight included a rematch clause.
The debate then switched to between Joyce and Parker, with Joyce accusing the New Zealander of “wasting his time”.
“He is going to try to hit me as hard as he can, but I’m going to win, I’m going to knock him out,” Joyce said.
“There can only be one winner and the best on the night will be me preferably. It’s going to be a great fight, I am really looking forward to it. I’m going to put a dent in his face.”
Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 – covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.