Former heavyweight world champion Joseph Parker has denied taking any banned substances after failing a medicine take a look at.
Parker, 33, has stated he’s “confident” he will likely be cleared after a routine take a look at given to the Voluntary Anti-Doping Company detected traces of cocaine.
The take a look at was taken on the day of the New Zealander’s combat towards Fabio Wardley, which the Briton gained final month.
Parker is dealing with a two-year ban from the game.
“Before my recent fight I took a voluntary test and have now been informed that it returned an adverse result. This came as a real surprise to me,” Parker stated in a press release on Instagram.
“I did not take any prohibited substance, I do not use performance enhancing drugs and do not support their use.
“I’m cooperating absolutely with the method now below approach, and I’m assured the investigation will clear my identify.
“Thank you to everyone who has sent messages of support. It means a great deal to me and my family. When the investigation is complete, I will speak openly and answer questions.”
Picture:
Joseph Parker enters the ring earlier than his combat towards Fabio Wardley. Pic: Reuters
The British Boxing Board of Management [BBBofC] has instructed Sky Sports activities it’s “investigating” the matter.
Since his defeat to Joe Joyce in 2022, Parker had amassed six successive victories forward of the Wardley combat, amongst them wins over Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang, and had secured the WBO interim title.
He went into his combat towards Wardley on 25 October in arguably the perfect type of his profession.
The previous world champion misplaced his belt to Anthony Joshua in 2018.
Parker was on account of face then-IBF champion Daniel Dubois in February, however the Briton fell ailing simply days earlier than the combat.
He risked his standing because the WBO necessary challenger to undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk by accepting the combat with Wardley.
“He was in line to fight Usyk. He instead took a risky fight against Wardley, and now this is the headline,” stated Sky Sports activities Boxing knowledgeable Andy Scott.
“Not only did he lose the fight, he now has this investigation that he will have to come out of and clear his name.
“It is going to be attention-grabbing to see how this develops additional. There is a full investigation, we’ll wait to see what the end result is of that, however there’s a risk that he is dealing with a two-year ban.”
