UKAD statement reveals heavyweight Jospeh Parker has served three-month ban

Long-time heavyweight contender and former WBO champion Joseph Parker has completed a three-month ban following an Anti-Doping Rule Violation.

In a statement released by UKAD (UK Anti-Doping) the big New Zealander is free to continue his career.

On October 26, 2025, a sample taken from Parker following his hard fight with Fabio Wardley at the O2 Arena returned an adverse finding for benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine.

According to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), cocaine is listed as a non-specified stimulant and is recognized as “a Substance of Abuse.”

The UKAD statement read: “Athletes who test positive for a Substance of Abuse may receive a reduced three-month ban, if they can establish that they used the substance Out-Of-Competition and in a context unrelated to sport performance.”

Parker was informed of his provisional suspension in November, and in January the fighter responded to the news claiming that the adverse finding was a result of contamination and he asked UKAD for time to collect evidence to support his assertions.

In February, UKAD charged Parker for the findings but in March: “Mr Parker provided UKAD with evidence claiming that the AAF [Adverse Analytical Finding] was the result of his exposure to cocaine used by the nutritionist he had employed in preparation for the bout on 25 October 2025. The nutritionist stated that he was a regular user of cocaine and had used cocaine daily in the week leading up to the bout.”
UKAD said they asked for more information from the heavyweight between April and June, and Parker told them he had worked with the same nutritionist since 2023.

On June 15, UKAD heard from an independent expert and believed that: “Mr Parker’s ingestion of cocaine most likely took place Out-of-Competition (i.e. before 11:59pm on 24 October 2025).”

UKAD then determined that any ingestion of cocaine had taken place out-of-competition and therefore “would have been in a context unrelated to sport performance.”

They then lifted Parker’s provisional suspension and proposed a three-month period of ineligibility, which they considered served, by way of punishment.

On July 28, Parker accepted the sanction and while UKAD’s findings saw them disqualify the fighter for the Wardley bout, because Parker was stopped in the 11^th round and lost, the British Boxing Board of Control allows the result to stand while acknowledging Parker’s test results. Had Parker won, the outcome would have been changed to a No Contest.