Parker v Joshua: Referee Giuseppe Quartarone's moment of madness

  • 02/04/2018

The worldwide combat sports community has voiced its outrage over the officiating in Joseph Parker's heavyweight title unification loss to Anthony Joshua on Sunday.

Italian referee Giuseppe Quartarone appeared obsessed with separating the combatants at any chance, which hampered the Kiwi from getting close to his much bigger adversary.

Team Parker expressed frustration over the way Quartarone handled the fighters when they clinched, but dismissed any suggestion he had cost the 26-year-old a chance at victory.

Parker was on the attack early in Round 6 when he had the Brit on the back foot, but as the two looked set to exchange blows against the ropes, the Italian stepped in.

That was just one of many instances throughout the 36 minutes where one or both men were denied the chance to scrap.

"I wanted to work on the inside more and thrown a few more punches," Parker said after the fight.

Parker's frustrations were shared by many on social media, including UFC president Dana White, who wrote: "Who picked this BUM to ref?"

Former world champion Carl Frampton also spoke out on Twitter, labelling the referee a "world class amateur".

Newshub.