MARCH 14 2020 LISTENER
I
n March 2018, Kiwi boxer Joseph Parker
fought a heavyweight title unification bout
against Briton Anthony Joshua in front
of 78,000 spectators at Cardiff’s Principality
Stadium. Last weekend, he fought American
journeyman Shawndell “The Bald Eagle”
Winters at a 12,000-seat indoor stadium in
Frisco, Texas.
The venues tell the story of Parker’s career
trajectory. After being defeated by Joshua,
he lost another points decision to Dillian
Whyte at London’s 02 Arena. His fights since
then have taken place at Christchurch’s
Horncastle Arena, the Dunkin’ Donuts
Center in Providence, Rhode Island, and the
aforementioned stadium in Frisco, a Dallas
Cowboys practice facility that also stages the
Whataburger Friday Night Stars, a local high-
school football competition.
The comparison with the previous week-
end’s highly charged Tyson Fury- Deontay
Wilder encounter in Las Vegas (Sport, March
7) was equally invidious: the atmosphere was
flat, many ringside seats were unoccupied
and the ring announcer was a particularly
risible example of that bogus brotherhood.
Although the fighters’ low-key entrances
were a welcome change from the grandiosity
of Las Vegas, they further contributed to the
impression of a low-budget production.
Winters (39) has more children – seven –
than he has years in the pro-boxing ranks- five. Furthermore, being a natural cruiser-
weight, he conceded a significant height and
weight advantage. The equation for Parker
was therefore simple: dispose of Winters con-
vincingly or face up to the
possibility that your ship
has sailed.
To his credit, Winters
was no pushover, but
Parker, looking rough,
tough and powerful,
flattened him in the
fifth. Mission accom-
plished. The journey,
however circuitous, con-
tinues. The dream
remains alive.
Dreaming on
Joseph Parker takes one
small step back towards
boxing’s big time.
spend less and earn more. Call me
unworldly, but I thought all busi-
nesses tried to do that all the time.
NZR’s newish chief executive,
Mark Robinson, who earned nine All
Blacks caps between 2000 and 2002
and later studied at the University
of Cambridge, hardly quelled these
suspicions when asked if cost cut-
ting could lead to job losses. (NZR
employs about 140 people and the
review identified consolidation of
overlapping provincial and fran-
chise administrations as an area of
potential savings.) “In that space,”
said Robinson, “there are a whole lot
of possibilities regarding people right
across the ecosystem of rugby.” What-
ever happened to “no comment”?
Meanwhile, Britain’s Financial
Times has reported that NZR is in
discussions with venture capitalist
CVC, raising the prospect that private
equity may provide a long-term
solution to New Zealand rugby’s stra-
tegic dilemma of having the game’s
biggest brand but smallest home
market. CVC was a major investor
in Formula One between 2006 and
2017, has a 27% stake in England’s
Premiership Rugby and is negotiating
for a piece of the Six Nations tourna-
ment and the Pro14, a competition
involving clubs from Ireland, Italy,
Scotland, South Africa and Wales.
No doubt, the very term “venture
capitalist” will send shivers down
some rugby folks’ spines. CVC report-
edly sold its stake in Formula One
for three and a half times as much as
it paid for it, prompting one racing
team boss to say that “all [CVC’s]
actions have been taken to extract as
much money from the sport as pos-
sible and put in as little as possible”.
Call me unworldly, but I thought
all venture capitalists tried to do that
all the time. lJoseph Parker:
mission
accomplished.GE
TT
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IM
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