The upcoming heavyweight fight between New Zealand boxers Joseph Parker and Junior Fa on 11th December has been postponed until next year after Fa decided to pull out of the fight following irregularities in his blood test results.
Junior Fa pulls out of Joseph Parker fight following blood test results
Dubbed as the “Fight of the Century”, the all-Kiwi clash featuring the former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker (27-2, 21 KOs) and the undefeated WBO Oriental interim champion Junior Fa (19-0, 10 KOs) is an eagerly awaited fight in New Zealand which has been in the making for several years.
However, after Fa underwent a blood test this Friday which has revealed some abnormalities, the official fight doctor has sidelined the 31-year-old who is also undergoing an operation on Tuesday, as revealed by his manager Mark Keddell.
“The doctor gave us a call on Monday 2pm and gave us some bad news,” Keddell told Newshub, “he basically said that’s that. So I advised Junior that under those conditions, it would be a bad idea to fight.”
The fight, which was announced to be held at the Spark Arena in Auckland, is now expected to be pushed back until late February or early March next year.
“We could see something was brewing and then on Thursday we did some testing with the speed of the bar and there was a massive drop off,” the manager further asserted, “David Renada the Doctor said no you’re not getting cleared it’s done it’s over.”
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While Fa will require at least a month of recovery following the surgery, it is expected that the pugilist may not resume training until January 2021. Be that as it may, Keddell believes Fa’s abilities will remain unfazed by this ‘routine’ operation.
“He’s in amazing shape. He’s at his fight weight, he’s got a six pack, it’s just one of those things,” added Keddell.
Notably, this isn’t the first time Junior Fa has been diagnosed with concerning ailments. back in 2017, it was found out that he had low iron and hemoglobin levels in his blood and underwent minor gastric surgery.
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