Sideline Sid Sports correspondant & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

One of things Sideline Sid has missed while holidaying in Queensland during the Western Bay of Plenty winter is the Joseph Parker fight on Sky Pay Per View television last weekend.

With Parker looking to pick up the mantle of New Zealand's next professional heavyweight hope after David Tua and Shane Cameron, his victory in Saturday night's fight is a big step towards establishing his credentials as a serious contender for a world-title fight in future.

In a boxing world where reputations and results are inflated in order to sell tickets and PPV sales, Parker's opponent in Brian Minto had shown the NZ boxing public his credentials when he beat up Shane Cameron in Cameron's last fight.

By all reports Joseph impressed the critics in his victory against Minto, with a hard-fought stoppage win.

Much of the credit for the Kiwi heavyweight's string of stoppage victories is the hard yards Joseph's put in with trainer Kevin Barry.

An Olympic silver medal was the highlight of NZ amateur light heavyweight international bouts three decades ago, with Kevin Barry being regarded as one the finest Kiwi amateur fighters to have worn the black singlet.

Much of the hard work for the Minto fight was done far from the media spotlight in Kevin Barry's gym in Las Vegas.

Sideline Sid's oldest son missed an opportunity to watch Parker put the finishing touches to his Minto preparation in Vegas.

Sid junior was in Las Vegas on a trip to the spiritual home of professional boxing, to view some of the venues and memorabilia of the big pro fights during the years.

He received an invitation via Facebook from Kevin Barry to go and watch Joseph's last sparring session before packing up camp and returning to New Zealand.

Getting lost several times on the way to Barry's gym saw the rare opportunity evaporate into a wasted afternoon.

However, the 10-day Vegas odyssey was an eye-opener to the ex-New Zealand amateur lightweight champion, who now lives and coaches on the Sunshine Coast in Australia.

One of his highlights was seeing the ring from superstar Floyd Mayweather's latest battle, which earned several large truckloads of money, and is still on display at the MGM hotel.

On a later visit to the MGM, Mayweather's multitude of world championship belts were on display.

Another highlight was visiting and training at the world famous Johnny Tacos gym that dates back to the 1960s.

Mike Tyson is just one of many world champions and contenders who has utilised the reasonably Spartan facilities in preparation for world title encounters.

While we have been away, the pride of Bay of Plenty boxing in Gunnar Jackson has again grabbed a top 15 World Boxing Organisation world ranking with his middleweight regional title victory.

Getting a previous top 15 ranking played a big part in Gunnar being a late call-up to fight Anthony Mundine in January.

While there was nothing about the Parker versus Minto fight in the Queensland papers, the big story coming out of Parker card is Mundine being offered a million dollars to fight Aussie Olympian Jeff Horn, who had an impressive victory in a Parker undercard bout.

Mundine bouts always draw a big PPV audience, with a vast majority of Aussie viewers hoping to see Mundine, whose had a controversial career, put on the seat of his pants.