Joseph Parker's camp is convinced that recent criticism thrown in his direction by the Eddie Hearn team is driven by ulterior motives.
Hearn holds the power as kingmaker of the heavyweight boxing as the promoter for contenders Tony Bellew and Dillian Whyte, as well as WBA and IBF champion Anthony Joshua.
The 38-year-old has thrown shade on the Kiwi WBO heavyweight champion, believing his lacklustre defence against Hughie Fury last month in Manchester has "diminished" his chances of a big payday against one of his charges.
Hearn has indicated that he feels the public's perception of a Parker v Joshua fight would be that of a mismatch.
However, Parker's promoter, David Higgins said it was all a smokescreen from the Brits to try and get Parker to fight them at a reduced price.
"It's become apparent that Eddie and his two bigger-named boxers are all levelling various criticisms at Joseph Parker... the boxers suggesting he is beatable and Eddie talking down the fight a bit, probably wanting to pay less," Higgins told Fairfax.
"We aren't going to have Eddie Hearn low-ball us, because we are from New Zealand or because he didn't like the Hughie Fury fight."
Higgins has fired shots at Hearn, as well as the many boxing pundits who have written off the 25-year-old as a paper champion, pointing to Parker's record.
"I think everyone should step back, take the emotion out of it and look at the facts," Higgins said.
"The facts are that boxers in Joseph's resume, like Andy Ruiz and Carlos Takam, are avoided and are arguably better than many of the boxers on Joshua's resume, Wladimir Klitschko excepted.
"Joshua has been laid out on his back more than once. Dillian Whyte shook him up, Klitschko put him down and there are rumours around incidents in sparring that I wouldn't speculate on.
"Joseph has never been put on his back in fighting or sparring. In boxing parlance, it means that he has got a good chin."
Higgins is confident that Joshua's aggressive style will actually play into the hands of the Kiwi and predicts an exciting fight.
"Joshua's style is more square-up, come forward, so the question for Eddie Hearn is, if Joseph Parker and Anthony Joshua stand in front of each other trading, who is more likely to go down?
"Based on the facts, it looks like that might be Joshua.
"Look, it could go either way and Eddie Hearn will know that - it's the heavyweight division and any heavyweight can knock out an opponent with the perfect punch.
"So that's why we are quite excited about the Joshua possibility, but it's it a fight we would only take if the deal was right. We won't be low-balled."
Parker's next fight announcement is in the works, with December looking likely against a ranked opponent.
Should Parker get past that, a mandatory defence against the winner of Bellew and David Haye looms as a possibility in early 2018.
All that could lead to a mega-heavyweight unification bout with Joshua midway through next year... if the Kiwi can hold onto his belt.
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