Former heavyweight champion Joseph Parker attended Conor McGregor’s latest UFC defeat over the weekend despite being positive for Covid-19.
The New Zealander was revealed to be one of the many Tyson Fury camp attendees to contract the virus as the Deontay Wilder trilogy got delayed.
Parker should have been self-isolating since last week. The report of Fury postponing his fight went public per WBN’s Dan Rafael as early as Thursday.
COVID OUTBREAK
Breaking news from inside Fury’s Top Rank Gym facility, Rafael said: “Per source, Tyson Fury was one of the people in his camp who tested positive for Covid-19.
“The fight with Wilder is postponed. New date TBA. I’ve been told Fury got one vaccine dose but never got the second. At least three others in camp – also positive.
“Others to test positive for Covid in the Fury camp are assistant trainer Andy Lee, featherweight Isaac Lowe and former heavyweight titlist Joseph Parker.
“Parker is trained by Lee and had been with him in the camp.”
Fans began questioning Parker’s Instagram post live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. The snap response led to the ex-WBO ruler deleting his posts.
He then followed up by adding: “HATERS. ANGER. TOWARDS. EVERYONE. REACHING. SUCCESS.”
Further probing of Parker then morphed into anger directed at Fury. Wilder supporters especially wanted to know why this summer’s most significant fight has had to be pushed back.
The heavyweight title was due to be on the line in just twelve days. Wilder was ready to go.
JOSEPH PARKER UFC
Promoter Frank Warren broke promoter silence on the matter that same night Parker watched Conor McGregor snap his own leg when trying to step back against Dustin Poirier.
Warren said Fury was frustrated at being forced to postpone the event at the last minute. However, Parker’s apparent disregard of the rules won’t have helped detractors comprehend that frustration.
Being around so many people and not social distancing at the event would jeopardize several people passing on the pandemic-causing disease.
Top Rank and Warren could face further questioning regarding the situation, though. This won’t help fend off the conspiracy theorists that already have doubts over Fury’s reasoning.
As WBN previously reported, doubting trolls began several threads on social media and boxing forums. They asked whether Fury a] wanted to watch the Euro 2020 final and chose to break camp, b] knew he really was ready to fight this month, or c] if poor ticket sales played a part in the delay.
Seeing Parker happy and smiling at a UFC event surrounded by thousands of people won’t do anything to halt the rising doubts.
