Boxing: Team Joseph Parker unsure if appeal process exists

Dillian Whyte knocks Joseph Parker down in the second round. Photo / Getty

Joseph Parker's promoters are still 'considering' appealing his loss to Dillian Whyte in hope of getting a rematch although Duco CEO David Higgins admits it's unlikely it would go their way.

Whyte won the bout by unanamous decision but the scorecards showed the fight would have been scored a draw but for the second round headbutt not spotted by the referee.

Parker was winning the round until he was dropped by an illegal blow to the head which presumably wasn't seen by English ref Ian John Lewis. Instead of a 10-9 points victory for the New Zealander in that round, the judges had to score it 10-8 in Whyte's favour.

Australian judge Phil Austin scored the fight 114-111, Frenchman Christophe Fernandez 115-110 and Englishman Steve Gray 113-112. Had the headbutt been spotted and scored accordingly, Gray would have given the fight to Parker, who dropped Whyte in the final round, and Austin would have scored it a draw, with Fernadez, who for some reason scored the first round to Whyte, giving it to the Englishman.

A draw in front of 18,000 people at London's O2 Arena would have set the pair up for a potentially lucrative re-match. Now, however, Whyte has all the momentum and is eyeing a re-match of a different sort – a big-money fight against countryman Anthony Joshua.

"Considering is the right word. We haven't made any decision yet," Higgins told the Radio Sport Breakfast.

"We haven't fully looked into it. It's possible the British Boxing Board of Control don't have an appeals process. We're searching around trying to understand whether there is a process. And if there was, would we get any joy? Probably unlikely," he added.

"You could challenge it legally and because it's on video and all factual then you'd have a show."

Higgins wants a rematch and said hedidn't want to take anything away from Whyte's victory.

"I think a rematch would be fair. Because of the controversy but also it was such a good event. No one was complaining. Joseph very courageously came back and nearly got there in the end.

"We're not taking anything away from Dillian Whyte. He fought like a courageous warrior. He brought his A game. So this isn't about the way Dillian Whyte performed, as such, it's about the way the last three events in England have been officiated building to this final event. "

Parker, after a dominant first round, struggled to respond after being stunned by Whyte's head. It was a concussive blow which badly hurt his equilibrium and probably his confidence.

"Joseph should have been given five minutes to recover from the head clash," Higgins added.

"They're concussive. They're illegal for a reason. I knew something was wrong. After the fight he said the headbutt caused him to be dizzy…he said he felt like he was fighting in slow motion and just trying to hang on and survive in the middle rounds."

The headbutt wasn't the only controversy of the night. Referee Lewis continually allowed Whyte to push down Parker, hit Parker in the back of the head, use his left shoulder against Parker's face, and hit after the break and bell – all illegal acts.

The Herald counted five warnings given, when one could reasonably expect two to be given before a points deduction.

Parker said afterwards that he wanted to bring an edge or "mongrel" to his fight too, but, after he looked good in the opening round, the headbutt in the second would have forced him into recovery mode. He looked relatively listless in the middle rounds before his late rally. In the end he simply ran out of time when another 20 seconds or so could have seen him win the fight.