'Brotherhood' preventing bout
Joseph Parker’s handlers would jump at the chance to put him in the ring with Alex Leapai but don’t expect the Australian heavyweight to replicate the interest.
Australian media have been speculating about a Leapai v Parker bout as Leapai gets set to launch his comeback following his disastrous world title challenge against Wladimir Klitschko.
Leapai’s shot at the big time ended with the likeable Samoan-Australian knocked out in the fifth round, hardly having fired a shot and being on the canvas twice before the final count arrived. Leapai takes on American Malik Scott in Brisbane next week.
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The Courier Mail newspaper suggested the winner would be in line to fight fast-rising New Zealander Parker. That’s unlikely to happen on either front.
As much as Duco Events are finding it increasingly tough to get decent opponents for Parker, Leapai and Scott are dubious for differing reasons.
Scott’s appeal has quickly waned as his unbeaten record blurred with two heavy defeats in his last three fights, particularly his opening round loss to fellow American Deontay Wilder.
Leapai is more complicated.
Duco Events boss Dean Lonergan says they’d “take Alex in a heartbeat”, liking Leapai’s appeal and the marketability of a trans-Tasman bash.
But while Parker is keen for it to happen the 35-year-old Leapai is less enthusiastic because of their friendship and “Samoan brotherhood”.
Lonergan suggests the reluctance in the Leapai camp runs a little deeper.
He said they had approached Leapai’s trainer Noel Thornberry twice in the last ten months “and he didn’t want to know about Joe”.
A loss to Parker would be fatal to any hopes Leapai has of climbing back up the rankings.
A matchup of either Leapai or Scott taking on the winner of the looming Kali Meehan versus Shane Cameron fight in Auckland would seem a more realistic proposition.
Duco, who are looking for ranked boxers to push Parker’s cause on the various ladders, see no value in Cameron or Meehan in that department though a Cameron encounter could be a good money.
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