If Ian had intervened when the headbutt was delivered to Joseph Paker, it would have been regarded as an illegal move by Whyte, making Parker the winner of round and declaring the bout a draw. However, adding insult to injury, French Judge Christopher Fernandez declared Whyte as the winner of R1, although Joseph appeared dominating from the beginning of the round till the end.
Despite his fall from grace in his two bouts against Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte and a meager win against Hugie Fury, Joseph’s promoter David Higgins says UK can very well be Joseph’s next destination again to fight. According to the promoter,
“I honestly don’t think Eddie Hearn is behind the bias but I think there is an unconscious bias. Three controversies in a row – people will say we’re whinging and making excuses but it’s not fair to Joseph. Three consecutive fights we’ve had a level of controversy and even a level of disgrace. I think most people would say that’s unfair.”
He went on to add,
“What can we do about it? We’ve tried a neutral referee, we’ve tried the so-called best British referee, we’ve made a fuss about it publicly. I think even Eddie Hearn and his father Barry would say we haven’t had the rub of the green.”
“But that’s the sport we’re in. We’ve decided to take it on the chin, if you’ll excuse the pun, and get on with the job. Does it make us worried we’ll never get a fair go up there? Yes of course. But it’s that whole home-town advantage thing, we’re going into British territory fighting British fighters. They’re not going to do us any favors.”
When Joseph was questioned about the prospects of him fighting in Britain, the boxer answered rather diplomatically. He said,
“I love fighting there because it’s the heavyweight scene. I’m not saying the officials were bad but some fouls weren’t called…”
It’s totally up to Parker and Higgins to decide where the boxer should fight next. If they choose UK, hopefully this time around things would be different. According to Higgins, Joseph has a lot of fight offers to choose from, including the United States.
