LONDON (AP) — Former heavyweight champion Joseph Parker denied taking any prohibited substance and said his failed drug test from last month's loss to Fabio Wardley was “a real surprise.”

The New Zealander's voluntary anti-doping test conducted on the day of the bout returned an adverse finding, promotions company Queensberry announced on Friday.

Wardley stopped Parker in the 11th round at the O2 Arena in London on Oct. 25 in a fight to determine who would become the WBO mandatory challenger to undisputed world champion Oleksandr Usyk .

“Before my recent fight I took a voluntary test and have now been informed that it returned an adverse result. This came as a real surprise to me," Parker said early Saturday in a statement on Instagram.

“I did not take any prohibited substance, I do

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