UPDATED 2.46PM: A boxing promotion company is wobbling on its feet in the midst of public backlash against a planned fight between Teina Pora and a police officer.

On Tuesday Mr Pora had his conviction for the 1992 murder of Susan Burdett overturned.

On Thursday, ahead of their much-publicised Joseph Parker fight, a media release from Duco read: “Pora has been given front row seats to tonight’s bout and will fight a police officer within three months in an upcoming Duco Boxing card.”

Public backlash was swift and unequivocal, as well as from within the boxing community.

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Duco has this morning moved to deny the fight was ever confirmed – it was only ever talks, and Mr Pora and his trainer had approached them with the idea.

“It was the start of a conversation. We go through these discussions all the time. And part of promotion of boxing and whatnot sometimes, you drive up excitement and stuff like that,” says chief executive Martin Snedden.

“All that has happened is an initial discussion.”

Duco’s co-founder David Higgins can’t understand the outcry.

“It’s no different to former footballers or anyone else, cricketers, giving boxing a go,” he says.

“If it was a half-marathon or a swimming race it wouldn’t even be news.”

David Higgins: We're not exploiting Teina Pora

He goes even further – saying those who have a problem with the fight aren’t giving Mr Pora a fair go at creating his own life.

“His reasons for wanting to do it are no different to anybody else,” he says.

“It’s very nanny state and patronising some of the talk.”

Duco Events has courted controversy in the past – putting dwarfs in the ring and announcing Millie Elder-Holmes on the undercard for last year’s Fight for Life seven weeks after her boyfriend Connor Morris was killed.

While it may not have been signed off, the fact it’s a possibility shows a disregard for Ms Burdett’s friends and family.

Her brother Jim Burdett has long supported Mr Pora’s bid for freedom, saying he had doubts about the conviction.

Mr Pora is now free but Mr Burdett still has no closure on who killed his sister 23 years ago – and would have to go through the ordeal once again as promotion for such a fight ramped up.

He’s appalled at the idea.

“It’s a sad, sick world where people will pay money to see that sort of contest,” he says.

“In a way it doesn’t matter whether it goes ahead or not, the fact that somebody’s thought of doing it is a really sad thing.”

The Police aren’t commenting on the possibility an officer will be involved – but Mr Higgins claims it’s a former officer.

Boxing coach Billy Meehan – who was with Joseph Parker through his Olympics campaign – says Duco operates out of commercial interests, so needs these kinds of headlines to gain attention.

He says while he understands that, people need to know the distinction between corporate fights and traditional boxing.

“These fights have gone past the raising funds for charity to the point where it’s seen as boxing, and it’s not,” he says.

“None of the money that Duco is making off Joseph Parker is coming back to amateur boxing where Joseph Parker started his career.”

Mr Snedden told Martin Devlin this morning he had no idea about Mr Pora’s illness – foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) – which was the reason the Privy Council overturned his conviction for the murder of Susan Burdett.

“Some people have assumed that we and the general public would have awareness of his medical condition,” he says.

“I thought the case was about DNA evidence, I had no real visibility of the fact it was to do with some sort of medical condition.”

The head of Foetal Alcohol Network New Zealand says those with FASD are vulnerable, due to their propensity to try and please others and inability to see the potential outcome of their actions.

“I just think it’s sad in this case that he’s walked into a situation like so many of them do without really thinking through consequences, because often people with FASD cannot”.

While Duco says there was never any concrete plan in place for the fight, Mr Snedden says it’ll be reviewed.