Boxing: Team Joseph Parker to appeal loss to Dillian Whyte because of headbutt

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

Joseph Parker's promoters will almost certainly appeal his recent defeat against Dillian Whyte after 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.

A Duco spokesman said today: "It's clear that the clash of heads in the second round had a significant impact on the fight – both in terms of the scorecards and Joseph's performance in the middle rounds.

"In light of what is clear evidence of a significant error by the officials, there is a legitimate question as to whether the result should stand. That's a question Duco will be asking the sanctioning bodies on Joseph's behalf."

This is new territory for Parker and Duco, who will likely approach the sanctioning bodies for redress.

And it's a question that should be asked because 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.

Parker was also down in the ninth round – this time to a legal blow, a left hook from Whyte. But he was quickly back to his feet – a testament to his toughness and resilience. How he came back to knock down Whyte with a straight right hand in the 12th round is anyone's guess.

It is understood Parker's painful and swollen left ear came not from the legal blow but from the headbutt.

The 26-year-old had never before been dropped as an amateur or professional. He said in the immediate aftermath of his second consecutive loss that he wanted to continue in the sport and was in fact determined to win his world title back.

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.