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Former world heavyweight champion Joseph Parker has been cleared to return to the ring after serving a three-month drugs ban that authorities said was due to his nutritionist.
The 34-year-old New Zealander tested positive for cocaine on the day of his shock loss to Fabio Wardley in London in October.
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Parker has always denied knowingly taking any banned substances and United Kingdom Anti-Doping (UKAD) said the nutritionist he employed ahead of his fight with Wardley was a “regular user of cocaine”.
“New Zealand professional boxer Joseph Parker has served a three-month ban from all World Anti-Doping Code-compliant sport following an anti-doping rule violation (ADRV) for the presence of a prohibited substance,” a UKAD statement said on Thursday.
“At the time of this announcement, Mr Parker is free to participate in sport.”
“On 6 March 2026, Mr Parker provided UKAD with evidence claiming that the 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,” the statement added.
Parker was tested by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) on October 25.
On the same day, he was beaten by Briton Wardley at London’s O2 Arena.
Parker failed a UKAD test in the early hours of October 26 .
UKAD added it had found in June that Parker’s cocaine ingestion had occurred out of competition and therefore was “in a context unrelated to sport performance”, thereby lifting his previous suspension.
Parker’s professional record stands at 36 wins and four defeats.
He was WBO heavyweight champion from 2016 to 2018 before losing the title to Britain’s Anthony Joshua in Cardiff.
UKAD’s statement came the day after Parker himself announced his ban had been lifted.
“I’m pleased to confirm my provisional suspension is lifted and I’ll be back in the ring soon,” he said.
Parker suffered an 11th-round stoppage defeat by Wardley and lost his status as WBO mandatory challenger to then undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.
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