Junior Fa’s career rescued with fight against Frank Sanchez on Saudi Arabia card with Deontay Wilder, Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker

A lot can change in the space of a week.

Last Friday, Junior Fa was in a state of flux. It had been more than a year since the Kiwi heavyweight boxer had competed in the ring and there were no signs of that drought ending any time soon.

It had the 34-year-old questioning his future in the sport, with his last bout - a quick KO win - now being more than a year behind him. The tools were still sharp, but they were left lying in the shed as no bout offers were coming in; Fa turning to personal training as a way to make money with no fights on the table.

“It’s a contract-to-contract type job, and no contracts were coming in which basically meant I had no income coming in. Through that time was a bit stressful,” Fa told the Herald.

“Opportunities were drying out for me. In terms of faith in my skill and ability, that was always there. Sometimes during hard weeks, I’d be playing these mental games in my head saying maybe this is it, then I’d go into the gym and kick some ass.

“That belief was always there, but it was just continuous mind games of those questions like maybe this is it, I don’t know if the opportunity’s going to come up again, should I maybe look to do something else?”

That all changed this week, with Fa (20-2; 11KOs) booking a fight against one of the world’s best heavyweights. On December 24 (NZ time), Fa will square off against Cuban Frank Sanchez (23-0, 16KO) on the stacked Day of Reckoning card which also features Joseph Parker against Deontay Wilder, and several of the biggest names in the sport.

The opportunity came about by chance. Fa has previously worked as a sparring partner with Wilder and got a call from the former WBC champion’s trainer Jay Deas last Friday between training sessions about reprising that role to help with preparation for his bout against Parker.

At that point, the fight wasn’t official. Fa was asked to keep it quiet but did tell his coaches at Auckland’s City Kickboxing gym. They commented that it would be cool if they could get Fa a spot on the card.

Only a few hours went by before he got another call. This time, it was his manager Mark Keddell asking if he wanted to fight Sanchez on the same card.

“The other week I had no idea what I was going to do until the end of the year. I was in limbo mode, keeping up with training but losing a bit of focus. Now this has come up, it’s a great opportunity and it’s awesome to get back in there again against such a massive opponent on a massive card,” Fa said.

“It’s crazy, bro, crazy. The speed that this whole thing got done, it tells you one thing – there’s a lot of money in this. To get all the promoters and all the fighters to agree on such short notice, it just shows there’s so much money, and Saudi Arabia and the guys putting it on are putting so much stock into this.”

A fight against Sanchez is one full of opportunity for Fa, who will look to move back into the top 15 rankings after his shock KO loss to Lucas Browne saw him ousted from them.

Sanchez, a slick, technical operator who hails from Cuba, is ranked in the top 15 with all four of the major governing bodies, and in the top six of three of them.

After flying to London to attend the event press conference earlier this week, Fa will now immerse himself in camp with Wilder in Alabama. In preparing for Sanchez, Fa said he knew exactly what he would be in for when he stepped into the ring against him.

“As soon as I got the name, I knew who he was, but I’ve looked more closely into it. He’s a very, very nice boxer,” Fa said.

“I’ve got a gameplan for myself to deal with him and I’m going to trust my coaches, see what they think and it’ll be my job to execute it. But I’m not going to fool myself. I think this is the first fight I’ve gone into where I’m saying I’m not the better boxer; this guy is technically better than me, so I’m going to make it a fight.

“I’m just being real. I’ve got to be careful to make sure it’s not coming off like I’m less than, but I know he’s got me in that department, so I’ve got to get him over here. It’s that type of thing.”

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.