Hughie Fury given deadline to sign for Joseph Parker before voluntary is sanctioned

[Ruthless-RKO]

World Boxing Organisation President Paco Valcarcel has informed WBN of a deadline in the race for Hughie Fury to seal a world title shot.

Fury has been locked in negotiations to fight Joseph Parker in New Zealand in the spring, although is yet to put pen to paper on a deal.

Valcarcel has decided to step in and has given Fury and his team until Friday to agree or Parker will be allowed to fight another Top 15 contender.

"If Hughie Fury doesn't sign before 12pm UK time tomorrow, WBO, as requested will consider sanctioning a voluntary for Joseph Parker," Valcarcel exclusively told World Boxing News on Thursday.

Discussions over where the fight would be held meant an original date of April 1 was scrapped early on as both sides looked at the possibility of staging the fight in the United Kingdom.

Parker's home of Auckland emerged as the favoured destination late last week, although there's been no indication yet that a finalization is forthcoming.

Winning the belt in December against American Andy Ruiz, Parker had hoped to have his first defence on the horizon by now, although the Fury stipulation by the WBO has delayed things considerably.

The likes of Edmund Gerber, Andrey Fedosov, Dillian Whyte, Andriy Rudenko and Tom Schwarz will now come into play for Parker's next outing should Fury not be able to adhere to the WBO's conditions regarding his mandatory chance.

[crusader]

Is the issue Peter not being able to enter NZ? In my opinion that's not worth letting go of $1.2m to fight the most vulnerable champion.

Incidentally, Fedosov is one of the opponents I most wanted to see Parker face before he took the surprisingly big step up and boxed Takam.

[nmhz]

Apparently they were just waiting to receive the paperwork. It has been signed off by both parties now.

Looking forward to their Fight in April