Joseph Parker fumes at Fabio Wardley stoppage as undisputed heavyweight title shot slips away

The New Zealander lost his WBO interim heavyweight title to the Briton and with it the chance to face Oleksandr Usyk for all four belts

Joseph Parker has raged at the referee’s stoppage after his 11th round defeat to Fabio Wardley at The O2 in London.

The New Zealander lost his WBO interim heavyweight title after Wardley’s barrage of shots in the penultimate round forced Howard Foster to step in.

Wardley is now in line to fight the Ukrainian for all four belts in 2026, with the undisputed heavyweight champion recovering from injury.

• FOLLOW LIVE: Parker v Wardley reaction, results and analysis

“I didn’t feel like it [got away from me]. The ref stopped the fight, I felt like I could keep going on, he saw enough, but I have to accept the result. Two shots hurt me, but I was still aware and wanted to carry on,” Parker told Seconds Out.

“Of course, I was hurting him, he was good, took a few shots here and there, he’s a warrior. He won the fight, he’s onto another big event and fight.

“I want to carry on, if I can get a rematch, then awesome, it’ll be great to run this back.”

Despite accepting a fight with Wardley, instead of waiting for Usyk to recover, Parker remained defiant over his decision and has no regrets.

“He caught me with a few shots, he put on a good performance, but when you get caught, it’s boxing,” Parker added.

(Steven Paston/PA Wire)

“I felt fine when they stopped the fight, but I’m not the referee, I wanted to carry on, of course.

“It sucks to lose a fight, not pretending I’m happy, but life goes on. Boxing is what I do, but I’m blessed with kids and a family, regroup, then see what comes next.

“I don’t regret anything I do, boxing is just part of what I do, I’m blessed with a family and a wonderful team. It’s just a bump in the road. I felt good out there.”

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But Derek Chisora defended the stoppage, warning that Wardley could have inflicted serious damage with just a few more seconds.

Fabio Wardley celebrates victory following the WBO World heavy weight championship bout against Joseph Parker (Steven Paston/PA Wire)

“Wardley is my guy, I’ve had more rounds with Wardley than anybody else in boxing,” Chisora told Seconds Out.

“I called it, I said Wardley wins this. Parker had to lose weight, he had too much weight, he was chubby, not fit enough. He needed to do more. The reason why he won this fight, Parker let him, Usyk won’t, he’ll make you work when you don’t want to work. So many breaks in there.

“Usyk doesn’t let you regroup, totally different. The ref is the only person in the ring watching their eyes, we cannot say anything, I’m happy they stopped it at the right time so he can go back to hid wife and kids. The ref did exactly what he’s meant to do.”