Joseph Parker’s manager reacts to his suspension being lifted

Sparring partner of Tyson Fury, Joseph Parker, has recently had his suspension lifted and is eyeing a return to the world stage.

Parker has been a mainstay in many of Fury’s camps over the years.

The New Zealander was last in action last October as he took on former WBO world champion Fabio Wardley.

He faced Wardley in a fight many claimed he didn’t have to take. Parker sat comfortably as the WBO champion at the time and was Oleksandr Usyk’s mandatory challenger.

He was set to be granted an opportunity at the full title after Usyk recovered from an injury he suffered.

In the meantime, the 34-year-old faced Wardley and lost for the first time since 2021, when Joe Joyce stopped him in the 11th round.

Wardley went on to become full WBO world champion just months later, with ‘The Cat’ eventually vacating the title.

Following the bout, Parker served a suspension in silence after an adverse analytical finding, with traces of cocaine found in his system on fight day.

Last week, the former WBO world champion was cleared to return, and his manager, Spencer Brown, spoke to Playbook Boxing with excitement.

“He’s back, he’s a top five fighter for me.

“He can give anybody in the heavyweight division a fight; now we’ve got to look at all the options.

“I spoke to David Higgins, who has been his manager for a very long time.

“Look, I can’t wait for him to fight again.”

During his time outside of the ring, he has been spotted training with two-time heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury in Pattaya, Thailand.

 

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Brown spoke about the setup in Asia and how the pair will likely continue to work together as they both eye becoming world champion once again.

“I think he’s buzzing, I think he’ll continue in camp with Tyson because they push each other and spur each other on.

“They do a lot of sparring together.”

Parker may look to revisit a fight with current world champion Daniel Dubois after their original scheduled bout for February last year was scrapped at the last minute, with ‘DDD’ falling ill during fight week.