Parker listed as being suspended indefinitely.
Joseph Parker was one of the most in-form fighters in the world last year. After a stoppage loss to Joe Joyce in September of 2022, it appeared his run at the top level was over.
However, this would prove to not be so when the New Zealander put together consecutive victories over Deontay Wilder, Zhilei Zhang, and Martin Bakole. In the opinion of many, he had fought his way back into title contention.
In fact, a lot of fans agreed that he was the most deserving challenger to Oleksandr Usyk, who was then the unified heavyweight champion.
However, it all came tumbling down when Parker took one risk too many, choosing to face then-unbeaten power puncher Fabio Wardley.
When they squared off in October of last year, Parker was a healthy favourite. However, he was ultimately stopped in the 11th round, losing his WBO interim heavyweight title.
This seriously halted Parker’s momentum, and things looked even more unfortunate when Wardley’s interim belt was upgraded to the full championship.
Then it came out that Parker had failed a VADA test for a cocaine metabolite on the day of the fight, which could have potentially led to a two-year suspension from the sport.
However, 8 months on from the positive test, there has still been no official word as to what the verdict is regarding the case and whether Parker will be returning to action any time soon.
Additionally, attention has recently been drawn to the fact that his BoxRec page states that he is currently “suspended by Association of Boxing Commissions indefinitely”.
The exact reasoning for that is currently unclear, and it looks like further word on the matter will purely come down to waiting.
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