[1] The event was co-promoted by David Higgins of Duco Events, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing and Lou DiBella of DiBella Entertainment,[2] and was considered a history making moment and New Zealand's next "Fight of the Century".
[3][4] As well as growing up in the same neighbourhood in South Auckland and being members of the same church,[5][3] Joseph Parker and Junior Fa have a history stretching back to their amateur days, having fought on four occasions with two wins each.
[8] After two successful defences Parker suffered his first professional defeat in March 2018, losing his title in a unification bout against reigning unified champion Anthony Joshua.
[9] Following the second loss of his career four months later against Dillian Whyte,[10] Parker went on a three fight winning streak; defeating Alexander Flores in December 2018;[11] Alex Leapai in June 2019;[12] and Shawndell Winters in February 2020.
[15] In 2017, Fa won the vacant New Zealand (NZPBA version) heavyweight title against Daniel Tai.
[16] The following year he won the WBO Oriental interim title against Luis Pascual to secure a world ranking.
[22] In August Fa's manager, Mark Keddell, said the fight was close to being agreed, stating, "We've sent our final offer to them today and in terms of the money I just cannot see it being a problem.
[24] The following day it was announced that the long-awaited bout is scheduled to take place on 11 December 2020 at the Spark Arena in Auckland.
The fight doctor for the event Dr David Renata said the bloods were not normal and that Junior required surgery.
[27] On 18 December it was announced that Junior Fa surgery was successful and the show was rescheduled for 27 February 2021.
[28] ^Note 1 For the vacant WBO Oriental Heavyweight title ^Note 2 Originally announced as Spit Decision draw, was later changed to a win to Panuve helu after all three judges failed to score a round correctly due to the referee deducting a point.
The fight was televised through a pay-per-view (PPV) produced by Spark Sport and Duco Events.
[37] For New Zealand PPV prices began at $39.99 for people wishing to purchase of the event before 26 October.
[39] Parker with the assistance of his friend Tyson Fury would sign up with a new trainer, Andy Lee.