Joseph Parker is facing a two-year ban after traces of cocaine showed up in a VADA test taken on the day he was stopped by Fabio Wardley on October 25. A brutal night in the ring turned into a legal and reputational mess before the bruises even faded.
Now his manager Spencer Brown flat out it wasn’t sabotage from stupidity or rogue behavior. According to Brown, Parker was infected. Not reckless. Not dirty. Pollute. Big difference if they can prove it.
The former WBO heavyweight champion has denied everything from the kick-off and his team is in full damage control mode, trying to prevent his career from being wiped out by one lab result.
“You’ll have to be mental to do it in camp”
Brown laid it out when he spoke iFL TVand he didn’t mince words.
“Yeah, well, I was just out with him. He’s in good spirits,” Brown said.
“He was infected. We know how it all happened.
Everyone will find out in time. It will soon be public knowledge. It was very hard on Joe.
We know it got into his system, but it certainly wasn’t taken or ingested by him, that’s for sure.
You’d have to be a mental person to do that in a fight camp, wouldn’t you.
It’s going to take a few weeks, and everyone will find out.”
This is a full-fledged defense. No hedge. No soft language. Either they have evidence…or they are walking into a storm with nothing but hope.
Parker talks: shock, paranoia and the long wait
Parker spoke to him later goat scene and you could hear the damage it did upstairs as well as on the record.
“You start questioning everything,” Parker said.
“You start asking ‘Why did I drink that cup of tea?’
Or ‘Why did I do that?’ Or ‘Why did I do that?’ There are many things on your mind.
“I’ve never failed a drug test before, so it was a surprise and shock. You have to do all these voluntary drug tests in camp, and then all of a sudden you get a little bit of a surprise and shock that you fail a fight.
“So, I’m just going to go through the process of trying to get it clean, and I want to be in the ring as soon as possible.”
This is not a guy who talks like he’s been caught. It’s a guy who rattled off, second-guessing every sip, every meal, every supplement.
The door slammed on his hands
At 33, Parker was destined to march straight into a shot at Oleksandr Usyk and the undisputed heavyweight crown. Instead, that future was kicked into the gutter overnight. No belt. No queuing. Only questions and cold silence where a title fight was supposed to be.
Likewise, Parker went from title rope to regulatory limbo.
To add salt to it all, Parker was recently on the Gold Coast to support his partner Jai Opetaia when he flattened Huseyin Cinkara. Smiling in public while his own career hangs in the balance behind the scenes.
This is no slap on the wrist situation. If the contaminated substance claim doesn’t hold up, Parker isn’t just losing time. He loses leverage, rank, money, relevance. Heavyweight boxing waits for no one.
Right now it’s pollution versus catastrophe. And the clock is already ticking.
Last updated on 12/09/2025
