Boxing on Teina Pora's 'bucket list'

Teina Pora had a ringside seat at Joseph Parker's fight. Photo / Getty Images

The man behind Teina Pora's bid for a charity boxing match up against a police officer says the acquitted man wasn't taken advantage of and boxing is on his bucket list.

Mr Pora's lawyer has attacked boxing promoters for using his client's profile to promote an upcoming boxing match after Duco sent a video of Mr Pora meeting boxing champion Joseph Parker and foreshadowing a bout in the ring against a police officer.

Gym owner and boxing trainer Ermehn Loto has been friends with Mr Pora since childhood. When Mr Pora approached him and expressed his interest in participating in a charity boxing event, he used his contacts to pitch the idea.

Sky Arena said they weren't interested but Duco took the bait.

"If Teina's going to do a charity fight then why not on a big platform show like Duco," Mr Loto said.

He and Mr Pora thought the video would be used on Facebook, but weren't aware it would be sent directly to news outlets, Mr Loto said.

Mr Loto said the backlash from Mr Pora's legal team had made him realise the timing wasn't right and the fight was now on the back-burner.

"I can understand the timing wasn't in favour.

"Teina just had his Privy [Council appeal] all sorted, next thing you know he wants to climb Mt Everest. He's feeling on top of the world and he wants to do some challenges," Mr Loto said.

"No one is taking advantage of him.

"People say it's in bad taste, but I think it's just bad timing."

Today, Mr Pora's lawyer Jonathan Krebs said Mr Pora was "aghast and disappointed" to hear the video had made the news.

"It was just usury, usury for the purpose of promoting this boxing match," Mr Krebs said.

"In my view that's something of a reptilian approach and it's desperately unfair to Teina."

However, David Higgins of Duco said getting Mr Pora in the ring was not a certainty.

"He approached us wanting to do the fight, we said we'd think about it," he said.

He said he wasn't sure whether it would go ahead, but said it would "be a shame" if negative publicity put Mr Pora off.

"He really enjoyed the fight, he really enjoyed meeting Joseph and it was a lovely moment."

Mr Higgins said he understood Mr Krebs and the whole legal team had done a "good job for him on certain aspects of his life", but were now "out of line" with regards to their reaction.

The video taken from Mr Pora's meeting with Parker included him saying:"I'm a big fan [of Joseph Parker]. I used to watch his fights inside the place I've been for the last 22 years and to stand there and meet him, it's an honour and a privilege."

On Tuesday, the Privy Council upheld Mr Pora's appeal and quashed his convictions for the 1992 rape and murder of Susan Burdett. He spent more than 20 years in prison after being twice convicted of the crime.