Show me the money.
That's the message Junior Fa's management are sending to Eddie Hearn and David Higgins as talk ramps up on a Kiwi heavyweight boxing superfight.
Following Joseph Parker's fifth-round demolition of Shawndell Winters in Dallas a week ago, a potential showdown between the former WBO heavyweight champion and undefeated contender Junior Fa has been speculated.
Parker's promoter David Higgins name-dropped Fa in a post-fight interview claiming the matchup was a "sensible, realistic option".
The pair are both ranked inside the top six of the WBO with Parker (2) on the cusp of another run at the heavyweight title.
That run may go through Oleksandr Usyk - the current mandatory challenger to Joshua's WBO title, but with the Ukrainian booked for a May meeting with Brit Dereck Chisora, Parker needs to stay busy.
While a fight with Fa (6) makes sense from a rankings standpoint, the overriding factor will be money.
Speaking to Newshub, Fa's manager Mark Keddell named his price.
"Junior wants that fight and we look forward to that fight," Keddell said.
"David Higgins has been on the phone to me a couple of times this week and we've let him know that Eddie Hearn needs to deal directly with Lou DiBella (Fa's US-based promoter).
"Yes we want the fight but let's make it worthwhile.
"Higgins has been on the record saying Parker is getting NZ$2 million a fight, so I look at the maths.
"When Joshua and Parker fought to unify the titles, Joshua brought two belts, Joe brought one - the split was 66 percent to 34 percent.
"So I look at number two in the WBO against number six and that's probably a 66-34 percent split.
"So if Parker gets $2 million from a $3 million purse, 33-odd percent of that is NZ$1 million - that's what we want."
But the two sides have been at this point before.
Keddell revealed Team Parker lowballed Fa in 2018 with an offer they felt was disrespectful.
Team Fa declined and instead fought on the undercard to Parker's quick stoppage of Alexander Flores.
Fast-forward nearly 24-months and the fight is back on the table if the money is right.
"They asked us for the fight two years ago and we said yes for NZ$500,000, which we thought was a fair number based off where everyone was at - at that time.
"That's the number that would have got the deal done.
"They offered NZ$75,000 and we all had a bit of a laugh amongst the team and said 'thanks but no thanks'.
"It's very expensive to build up heavyweight boxers. Promoters spend millions of dollars to get these guys to the level both are at now, so when you do take those tough fights, there needs to be some sort of balance in the investment from promoters."
Fa is tentatively scheduled to main-event a June card in the United States against a yet-to-be-named opponent, so for Keddell, there is no sense of urgency to make a deal with Parker.
Keddell believes the public interest in the fight will continue to rise and there will always be a market for Parker v Fa in New Zealand.
"As these two go through the next few years, Joseph will have some losses and Junior will have losses as part of his career too - that's just part of the sport we are in.
"At some point, the New Zealand public is going to want to see this fight - so it will be here forever.
"If it doesn't come to fruition this time because the other side is playing silly games around money then that's fine - we are happy to wait."
And Auckland's Spark Arena has been identified as the perfect location to house New Zealand's biggest boxing fight since David Tua brutalised Shane Cameron in 2009.
Keddell believes it's an ideal time to showcase some of New Zealand's rising boxing stocks.
"You are not going to sell 10,000 seats in Los Angeles for Joseph Parker v Junior Fa - there just wouldn't be the legs in that fight to the foreign market.
"This is an opportunity for some of New Zealand's local talent like Hemi Ahio, Mose Auimatagi and David Light to be exposed to an international market.
"There are a lot of Kiwi fighters doing the rounds right now and could use some international exposure on a high-profile fight like this."
Parker and Fa fought four times as amateurs with each securing two victories.
