Joseph Parker is still bitter about the referee who stopped the fight in the 11th round in his fight against WBA interim heavyweight champion Fabio Wardley last Saturday night, October 25 at the O2 Arena in London.
Three strikes, one too many
Parker (36-4, 24 KOs) insists Wardley (20-0-1, 20 KOs) gassed in the 11th after charging at him after stunning him. He says he was “aware of what was happening” when Warley threw his last three punches before referee Howard Foster stopped the fight.
It didn’t look like Wardley gassed up enough to stop throwing. Of the last three punches Wardley threw, he landed one big left and missed the other two. He didn’t look like he was going to stop throwing, and there was still a minute to go in the round. There was too much time left for Parker to continue absorbing penalties.
Parker’s version of events
“I was ready to go on. There was no point where I wanted to stop the fight. I was going to finish strong because I think he blew himself out,” Joseph Parker told Ariel Helwani’s YouTube channel, talking about his loss to Fabio Wardley last Saturday night.
The referee, Howard Foster, was watching closely, and he clearly felt that Parker had taken too much punishment for him to allow the fight to continue in the 11th round. Parker did not throw due to fatigue and injury.
“I was ahead on the scorecards. In the 11th round, when he had that rush, there were a few punches that caught me, and also I was dodging and moving and weaving. When he threw the last three punches, I was aware of what was happening. When the referee stepped in, I said, ‘I’m fine,'” Parker said.
Statistics don’t lie: Only seven strikeouts
What Parker fails to say is that he was badly hurt late in the 10th round and was lucky the fight wasn’t stopped. In the 11th he looked drunk and didn’t throw. Indeed, Parker threw just seven total strikes through two-thirds of the round. With just 1 minute and 6 seconds left, he was beaten by Wardley.
Last updated on 29/10/2025
