David Higgins: Duco Events founder and manager on the bout between Joseph Parker and Oleksandr Usyk

Manager David Higgins has speculated on the timing of Joseph Parker's chance to fight unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk. 

The World Boxing Organisation has ordered Usyk to take a mandatory defence of his WBO title against Parker, which would also likely put his remaining alphabet soup of belts on the line. 

The news came hours after reports of Usyk's camp negotiating for an undisputed bout with IBF champion Daniel Dubois, who allegedly pulled out of last month's fight with Parker due to illness. 

Higgins told Mike Hosking that at the end of the day, who Usyk fights will be up to him. 

But he says if he chooses to ignore the order by the WBO, he’ll be stripped of his title. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good way to win the week for Joseph Parker. So

(00:01):
yesterday we were telling you that Daniel Dubois fight was off,
and that was the one that was canceled last month anyway,
But in steps the WBO sanctioning body overnight, who orders
Alex Alexander Yusik to start negotiations with Joseph Parker. So
what does all this mean from Duco Joe's manager, David Higgins's, Well,
it's David, very good morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Good morning mate.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Just give us a crash course on the power ladder.
Can the wto trump Paul Warren, who is Duboir's manager,
and tell them what to do or not?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Not necessarily So at the end of the day, who
Usick fights will be up to Usik, and if he
chooses to ignore order by the WBO, he'll have to
vacate the WBO title will be stripped of it, which
will leave what's called a vacant title. There'll be no
title holder, and funnily enough, that's how Joseph Parker won
his first world title of Auckland twenty sixteen, and that's

(00:52):
the situation for me.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Is probably more likely than not, okay, as Warren Ropable.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Well, no, he's you know, he's an old dog and
this will have happened to many times. And frankly, Joseph
spend the number one Contendangbo from Warden a year, having
beaten Zang Warren's fighter and has been interim world champion.
So Joseph has deserved this sin It's long over June,
and they might have seen it coming, they might not have,
but it is a dilemma those a bit of a

(01:20):
spanner in the works, so Usik will have. It will
be ultimately up to Usk whether to fight Parker. Does
he want to belt? Well, the drivers in boxing, all
the major incentives are money number one, and so I
think I, even though I'm Joseph Parker's manager, Usak fighting
Dubois does make some sense because one it's a unification,

(01:44):
well it was a unification until yesterday. But two it
makes a fortune that fills up Wembley in the English summer,
so there is a powerful incentive for Usick to fight Dubois.
So I'm not too excited yet, but this is very
good news for Joseph. Parker's nothing bad. He means Joseph's
right at the top, and he's been ordered five tid

(02:05):
by one of sanctioned bodies, and even if it doesn't happen,
he just has to be patient and win and one
more win. I think he's right there even if it
doesn't happen next.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
Because it's sort of it's sort of falling to his feet,
isn't it, Because you've got Fury gone, you got Joshua nothing,
a shadow of what he once was. So you sick
dubois in Parker at it, aren't they?

Speaker 2 (02:26):
Yes, Yes, you're you're you're right, And so part leads
fall on his feet, but part the other thing. He
steamrolled three of the most feared men on the planet
in the space of the year, being Johntay Wilder. He
was undogged. No one gave him a chance, then Zang
people gave him even less of a chance, more of
a bogey man. Then as Pecoli, who's never been knocked out.

(02:46):
He's a manned mountain, and he put them away consecutively.
And so that that's quite an unprecedented run against that
quality of opponent in modern history. And then if you
look at Joe's overall record, he's what I call it
young veteran like he's got more names on his record
big names, Joshua White, Chazaura, Tackham, Ruiz It goes on, Wilders, etcetera.

(03:09):
He's got more big names than almost anyone else put
to the rest put together at over age thirty three,
I think it's a very good space.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
All right, we'll stay in touch and let's see we
can get something going. David Higgins as Joe Parker's manager.
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