By Mike Angove
The Joseph Parker world title rollercoaster has proven a wildly fluctuating ride for boxing fans.
First it was to the UK in December with a view to building towards challenge for Anthony Joshua's IBF title in February.
Then Tyson Fury's meltdown opened the door for a remarkable piece of reverse engineering from Dean Lonergan and the Duco crew.
Suddenly we were titillated by the prospect of a WBO world title fight, in New Zealand, teaming with arguably the world's most influential boxing promoter in Bob Arum.
Both promoters wanted the bout, timing and terms were broadly agreed, with the WBO's threat of a four-way box-off put to sleep.
The stars had aligned for an historic, once-in-a-lifetime global-scale event to be staged in New Zealand. Duco had pulled off a remarkable coup in classic Kiwi underdog style.
And then came news commercial sponsorship was short and a partnership with the New Zealand Government might be needed to pull it off.
Overnight Duco's profile as a Kiwi battler morphed into a money-hungry fiend looking to pilfer dollars from the New Zealand taxpayer.
It seems, a few metres from the summit of Everest, we face returning to base camp because someone in the party has cold feet.
It's time to set the record straight.
Duco isn't looking for a free handout. Money is not somehow being diverted from a homeless family in need. That's a narrative Trevor Mallard authored to score political points.
The New Zealand Major Events Development Fund regularly partners with commercial promoters to support New Zealand in attracting major events of global significance. The fund has invested more than $80 million since 2005 at an average of just over $530,000 per event. And frankly, this pales in comparison to the $36 million given to the 2013 America's Cup campaign.
Surely a world heavyweight boxing title fight, broadcast to more than 100 countries, with a reach in excess of 500 million households, qualifies as a major event of global significance?
Also, let's not forget, Duco's promotional partner in this event - Bob Arum - is one half of the team that promoted the highest grossing pay-per-view (PPV) event in history (Mayweather vs Pacquiao); and, that David Tua vs Lennox Lewis in November 2000, was the highest-viewed television event in New Zealand history (more than 1,840,000) until surpassed in 2011 by three Rugby World Cup games.
These facts alone make the event worthy of consideration.
Also New Zealand Major Events set a robust set of criteria which partners must meet, including opportunities for New Zealand brand promotion, increased tourism revenue potential, reinforcing high achievement and increased participation in sports, legacy for future similar events, and strengthening national pride and identity. Looking at these it's difficult to see where this event falls short.
Consider some of the funding recipients in recent times:
The FIFA Under-20 World Cup aside, it's hard to argue these are events of global significance in the same way that a heavyweight boxing title would be.
For example, the BMW New Zealand Golf Open is essentially a C-minus event on the global golfing calendar and attracts a few wealthy pundits and the odd celeb to Queenstown. It is screened to a paltry potential 8 million homes in Japan in addition to New Zealand, but has enjoyed $1.65 million worth of funding in 2015 and 2016.
How about the Rotorua Mud Festival, or the Pioneer mountain bike race, $2.7 million between them? I didn't hear a public outcry for any of these events - in fact I've heard bugger-all about them. Clearly we all missed those well-targeted marketing campaigns.
At a glance it's hard not to think that the more gentlemanly sports of golf, sailing and cycling, seem to enjoy an easier road to Government partnerships, while a more grassroots, blue-collar sport like boxing needs to work twice as hard to get half as much - or anything at all.
Another significant part of the resistance also seems to fester around the perception that Duco is making money hand-over-fist and charging too much to average kiwis for PPV viewing.
Having been part of other major promotions putting on large-scale PPV events, I call tell you - all is not as it seems.
The volume required for PPV success is very high, and the costs to putting on a show often higher.
Also consider that there are several people clipping the ticket on PPV revenue, including the broadcasters, and it's not a simple equation.
You can guarantee for example in this event, Arum will lock up the US PPV market of 80 million viewers as part of the deal.
New Zealand doesn't enjoy a huge audience, and I'd venture to say many of Duco's boxing events have struggled to break even.
To this point, running Parker has been a loss leader, searching for the ultimate payday in a unification bout against a big name in a global market.
Frankly, what DUCO has achieved locally so far is remarkable. They've done with a population of 4.4 million in New Zealand what no promoter in Australia has been able to do with 23.1 million, and that's due in a big part to the PPV model.
Simply put, Parker would not be in line for a world title shot without this model, and Kiwis would not have the chance to watch our local boy fight for a heavyweight title in his home town - unfortunately it's commercial reality.
I hope Duco and its collective group of commercial partners can pull it off. It's an historic event which done right, paves the way not only for Parker and his backers, but also for the sport of boxing in New Zealand.
For me somewhere along the way we've also missed the real story.
This is a world heavyweight boxing title, a sport with global reach and appeal, held in Auckland, promoted by a couple of blue-collar boys who've built from nothing, fought for by another blue-collar kid from south Auckland.
If that doesn't inspire national pride and invoke the Kiwi identity, nothing will.
Mike Angove is a former world kickboxing Champion and Sky Sports expert boxing analyst.
