Boxing: Joseph Parker working towards Kiwi heavyweight showdown against Junior Fa

A Kiwi heavyweight blockbuster between Joseph Parker and Junior Fa could be on the cards for 2020, according to boxing promoter David Higgins. 

Parker's camp sees the fight as a good option, after the 28-year-old's emphatic win over Shawndell Winters earlier this month.

Fa has previously spoken out about his desire to fight Parker, but now the stars are aligning for that to become reality. 

The rivals have never fought each other as professionals, but share a 2-2 head-to-head record as amateurs.

"Junior Fa is unbeaten and Joseph Parker is in his prime," Higgins told Stuff. "To match them up now would be sensible.  

"It's being discussed as a serious, realistic option. If it didn't happen now, then it might never happen.

"Fa might take a loss, Joseph might retire, so the reason it's being discussed now is because it kind of makes sense to do it now.

"That being said, the commercials and financials have to work, and the stars have to align. The number that Fa wants has to be viable - if he prices himself out, it won't happen.

"It would have to be a Matchroom event, and it has been discussed between them and us.

"It could be on par with the Tua-Cameron fight. Those local derbies can sometimes be as big as world title fights.

"An event like this in winter at Auckland's Spark Arena could stop the country."

Fa is undefeated and ranked No.6 in the world by the WBO,  while Parker is ranked second. 

Fa, 30 hasn't fought since beating Devin Vargas via decision last November, but has worked his way back to full strength, after overcoming career-threatening health issues. 

Fa is 19-0 with 10 KOs, without facing the same class of opponents as Parker (27-2, 21 KOs).

In 2018, after Joseph Parker's win over Alexander Flores, trainer Kevin Barry revealed Fa had initially been offered $500,000 to fight Parker, but his management declined the all-New Zealand affair, so Duco then approached Flores, who gladly accepted.

Instead, Fa fought on the undercard, beating Argentine Rogelio Omar Rossi. 

"We're here celebrating a great victory, fighting the best fighters in the world, don't ask me a question about Junior Fa," Barry said at the time. 

"When he fights somebody inside the top 200... I don't say that as a joke, look at the records, look at the names, look at their BoxRecs - they need to start testing him.

"If we're ever going to get a fight with him, he needs to fight somebody who's good. It's a joke he gets mentioned in the same breath with Joe. 

"We offered him this fight, but he said, 'I'd rather fight a guy who has had seven fights in seven years and lost four of his last seven fights by knockout, and he's 37'. Give me a frickin' break."

If a deal can't be reached, American Michael Hunter is keen to fight Parker. 

Hunter's manager, Martin Mikolajczak, told Sky Sports UK that Parker was "an easy opponent".