Joseph Parker has criticized the decision to call off his match against Fabio Wardley, saying he should have been allowed to continue.
In the 11th round, when Wardley tried to attack Parker, referee Howard Foster stood up and stopped him.
Parker appeared to be on his way to victory in a closely contested fight from beginning to end, but the former WBO heavyweight world champion believes he should have been allowed to continue.
“I felt good when they stopped the fight,” Parker said afterward. “I wanted to continue.
“I thought I was OK, but I’m not the referee,” he added. “We went out there and gave it our all, and he won.”
At the end of the match, Parker appeared to be in control.
Foster also refereed the first match between Carl Froch and George Groves, which was famous, or infamous, depending on how you look at it, for its premature stoppage.
Parker was leaning against the ropes when the stoppage came in the 11th round against Wardley. He looked injured, but crucially the New Zealander did not throw back.
However, he and his team felt that Parker managed to block many incoming big punches. But if, at that moment, the referee decides that only the ropes are holding him up, and that he is trapped and can take a shot, then that will be a dangerous position for the boxer.
In fact, Mr. Wardley took a very different view of the incident, arguing that Mr. Foster should have actually intervened sooner.
The Ipswich man admitted he thought it was a “now or never moment” as he pushed for the finish.
“Maybe the referee could have made the call with a few more strokes,” Wardley suggested of the match.
“I knew that if I got him, I could keep my foot on the gas and keep the pressure on. I’ve been training very hard for this. I’m in very good condition. I knew all I had to do was make the shots and stay in front of him and keep landing the punches.”
“It was between staying calm and letting go, and I was like, it’s now or never. I knew I probably wasn’t going to win, but I didn’t get upset or care. It didn’t bother me at all.”
Wardley thought that he actually could have stopped the fight sooner.
He pointed out that he put a lot of pressure on Parker early in the match, in the second round, but it was only relieved when Parker’s gum shield fell from his mouth. This caused the contest to be paused so the mouthpiece could be rinsed and repaired.
“He’s been in 40 fights, so he learns all those little cute tricks and little ways to save himself and buy extra time,” Wardley said of Parker.
“Of course, it’s upsetting in the moment. But it doesn’t deter me, it doesn’t depress me. If anything, I was driven by knowing that you needed a breather there, you needed a break, and that I hurt you.”
“This fight just made me realize that all I have to do is get closer to you and I can get you out of there.”
Parker hopes to resolve the dispute in a rematch.
“He’s a tough guy,” Parker said of Wardley. “He showed he’s a warrior. All I can say is congratulations and best wishes for the future. Hopefully we can fight again.”
“Now he’s moving on to bigger fights,” he continued. “We will continue to do so.
“A lot of times I felt like we lost to him, but he showed character. He showed toughness and kept coming back. So I give him credit for making that shot and being able to bounce back.”
“I want to go again.”
