Monday this week we saw a bit of drama unfold at the Parker-Fury press conference in London.
Dave Higgins, Joseph Parker’s promoter, showed up late and wanted to make a scene about referee Terry O’Connor with whom he wasn’t happy refereeing the upcoming WBO World heavyweight title fight. An angry Peter Fury then stood up and lashed out at Higgins.
(Video By ParkerBox)
But the two have apparently now settled their differences. Higgins also explains why he did what he did.
Dave Higgins got his wish and controversial referee O’Connor was replaced by Marcus McDonnell.
“It wasn’t premeditated. We didn’t discuss it beforehand. I was pretty fired up about the referee. I don’t blame the Fury camp but I needed to make a point and I wanted the point to be big in the media. The officials weren’t quite as neutral as they could be and so I thought that coming in a bit late and making a bit of noise would cause headlines rather than to be buried,” said Higgins in an interview with IFL.TV.
The promoter then explained why O’Connor had to be replaced.
“He’d done Hughie’s last two fights and then when we googled him, he was involved in a few controversies. I’m not a boxing expert, our trainer [Kevin Barry] is a lot happier with McDonnell as the referee than he was with O’Connor,” told Higgins.
He has apologised to Fury and the beef has been squashed.
“I’m very pleased that Peter accepted my apology and said no hard feelings,” Higgins continued.
Fury also spoke his mind about the whole situation.
“Back to normal. It is what it is. I can understand their frustrations. Outbursts happen but it’s only tongue and cheek stuff. There’s nothing personal here,” commented Peter Fury.
At the end of the day, the trainer is not mad at Higgins because according to Fury, the New Zealand promoter was only doing his job.
“I said to David ‘the fight’s on’, it was only other people who got involved that caused frustrations. We’re here now, the fight’s happening and it’s all good,” said Fury.
It seems that both parties are with the outcome and now what’s left is the fight itself in the ring.
“Nobody can criticize him [Higgins] because he’s done his job. They’ve got the money in escrow, Joseph is having a massive payday, it’s all good. That’s what promoters are here to do – to protect their fighters,” summarised Fury.
Parker’s WBO World heavyweight belt will be on the line this Saturday when mandatory challenger Hughie Fury tries to become the next British heavyweight champion.
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