A smiling, confident and upbeat Joseph Parker arrived in New Zealand earlier today, two full weeks ahead of his WBO heavyweight title defence against Britain’s Hughie Fury. Aside from telling the media how much he is looking forward to showing his stuff in the ring on May 6, the unbeaten champion spoke of his slight concern over the fact that Fury has not yet arrived in New Zealand.
It seems a little odd to both Parker and his trainer Kevin Barry, that Fury has not arrived well ahead of fight time so as to fully recover from the inevitable jet lag the flight from the UK to New Zealand causes.
“He’s not even here yet and hopefully they do come,” Parker said, courtesy of The New Zealand Herald. “The fight is scheduled to happen May 6 and I hope they do come down so they can see what it’s all about, see what New Zealand’s about but also see what my fists can do in the ring.”
Trainer Kevin Barry said that while there is still “plenty of time for them to arrive,” the offer was there for Fury and his team to arrive six weeks ahead of the fight. Why the delay in Hughie getting to New Zealand? If he doesn’t get there soon, might there be a danger Hughie – having his first fight in New Zealand of course – fails to sufficiently acclimatise?
Interestingly, it was 16 years ago today when British heavyweight great Lennox Lewis came a cropper in South Africa, having arrived late, failed to acclimatise (and adapt to the altitude) and was duly taken out in a big upset by huge underdog Hasim Rahman.
Maybe Fury and his should make sure they don’t make the big mistake Lennox did. Certainly, one would think the knowledgable and savvy Peter Fury, Hughie’s trainer and father, would have all bases covered going into this, the biggest fight of his talented son’s pro career.
We have to assume Fury knows what he’s doing.