Junior Fa's trainer said his team is stuck in "The Higgins Show" with the fight now rescheduled for next year. The heavyweight boxing bout between Joseph Parker and Junior Fa won't take place until next year - a move Fa's fired-up trainer Eugene Bareman says is just the latest installment in "the Higgins Show".
After it was confirmed last week Fa had to withdraw from the December 12 fight due to medical reasons, the two camps came together for a press conference today to reveal a new date for the bout which has been delayed until February or March 2021.
Bareman said the new dates could affect how Fa's corner looks on the night.
"With this date it's highly likely that Israel and the UFC guys will be occupied now, especially coming into March ... so there's a chance that Israel, the boys and myself won't be at the fight.
"But the show must go on."
With his straight-forward answer out of the way, Bareman then fired off some verbal jabs at Parker's promoter David Higgins along with his team.
"One thing that we've been reminded of through this is this is 100 per cent The Higgins Show," Bareman said.
"We're the B-side of this - to get this to the point where we are now, it's all cordial now but it's a s***-fight backstage."
Along with some of the UFC fighters and maybe even himself not being at the bout, Bareman said another reason the four-to-five month delay works against Fa is he's lost the advantage their camp feel they had mentally.
"We lose the main advantage we had and the main advantage we had was that [Parker's team] weren't taking this fight very seriously - you know that by Kevin Barry taking his time coming back.
"We were already training for four weeks before they even decided to bring their trainer back and start.
"My gym, City Kickboxing, we run these streets. If you're partying with celebrities or you're partying with scumbags like me and Doug [Viney], we know what you're doing. These guys are from Vegas, we run these streets and if you're not taking this fight seriously, we know about it.
"Now they might be taking this fight a lot more seriously now they've got more time so we lose that advantage and we're gutted we lose that advantage - we felt that that was the thing that was going to put us over the edge."
Bareman signed off his fiery rant with a parting blow.
"Respect to Joseph and respect to Kevin, I like those guys but at the same time stuff those guys. They can kiss my ass. This is a fight."
Higgins was quick to step up to the mics after Bareman was finished to defend himself and Parker's camp, saying Fa's team had been just as painful to deal with.
"That was a nice rant from Eugene and a promotion needs that," Higgins said in response.
"He almost had me feeling sorry for him but the reality is we're the financial underwriter of the show, we signed every contract and we've taken all the risk.
"Frankly, we're a bit pissed off at the carry-on from their camp, they've pissed us around, so do we feel sorry for them? Not at all."
Bareman responded that "no one was asking you to feel sorry for us" but Higgins carried on without acknowledging him.
"This is boxing, we roll with the punches
"At least these guys are going to fully fight so for that reason I won't complain because I do want them both fully fit in a fair fight.
"I just hope that Joseph Parker makes them pay for the extra time we have to wait."
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