The scheduled WBO heavyweight title clash between Joseph Parker and Hughie Fury has been canceled, WBO President Paco Valcarcel has confirmed.
Parker was due to defend his title against Fury on May 6 in New Zealand for the first time, although reports surfaced on Friday of unrest in the mandatory challenger’s team.
According to the press in Auckland, Team Fury had been unhappy with some of the travel plans for the fight, although this is yet to be confirmed by Hughie or Peter Fury.
Parker vs Fury off
Whatever the cause, Parker v Fury will not go ahead as previously planned for the Vector Arena next month.
“As of today, it seems there will be no WBO Heavyweight World Title fight in New Zealand,” Valcarcel clarified. “It seems the problem lies within Team Fury,” he added.
On Friday, Parker and coach Kevin Barry arrived in New Zealand but wondered why Fury hadn’t done the same.
“He’s not even here yet, and hopefully, they do come. The fight is scheduled to happen May 6, and I hope they come down so they can see what it’s all about, what New Zealand’s about, and what my fists can do in the ring,” said Parker.
“He’s never done jet lag before, so for someone who hasn’t done it before, they should be down here acclimatizing to the time and all sorts of stuff like that; I’ve done it before, so I know what it takes to get my body used to it, and I know I will be ready so I’m not sure how they’ll react to it but let’s see what happens.
Barry added: “Look, there’s still two weeks out to the fight. There’s plenty of time for them to arrive. We offered them a while back that they could come here six weeks before the fight.
“Every international team that we’ve bought out here in the last four years, we’ve been very, very accommodating to them, we’ve put them in the best hotels, we’ve had drivers with them, we’ve flown them very well, and it surprises me that they are leaving it to this late stage to arrive down.”
