Vector Arena Confirmed as Venue for Joseph Parker Title Fight

Joseph Parker's handlers are sufficiently confident of breaking even to announce Auckland's Vector Arena as the venue for the WBO heavyweight title fight against Andy Ruiz Jr on December 10, but they admit they are taking a huge risk.

The fight will cost about $4million to put on. It will easily be the most expensive fight held here in New Zealand. Parker's fight against Carlos Takam in May at Auckland's Vodafone Events Centre cost $2.2million to hold, Duco's chief executive Martin Snedden revealed today.

He said his company had moved on from the saga of recent weeks where they asked for, and then withdrew their application for, funding via a partnership with the government's Major Events arm.

And then Auckland council's funding arm Ateed dropped a bombshell by withdrawing their support last Thursday night.

"It's been a pretty rocky, volatile last few weeks," Snedden said.

"For us today its about in some ways putting a line in the sand... we've reached a point today where we can say this title fight is happening in Auckland, and let's use the next 32 days before the fight to really enjoy the build up to this.

Ticket prices for the 10,000 capacity arena would start at $99.

- NZ Herald