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The Lord of the Ring(s): Joseph Parker poised to emulate historic movie trilogy as Fabio Wardley chapter looms
Everybody knows The Lord of the Rings. In the western world at least, you'll be hard-pressed to find somebody who is not, at the very least, aware of the seminal fantasy series.
Likewise, the chances are that the codified visual language for many will have been presented through Peter Jackson's legendary trilogy of films, released a quarter-century ago.
Shot primarily between 1999 and 2000 with subsequent pick-ups over the following three years, it represented a major cinematic gamble for the filmmaker and New Line Cinema.
Before his move to Middle-earth, Jackson was known for horror comedies, and for the biographical murder-drama Heavenly Creatures - cult favourites with a dedicated audience.
But The Lord of the Rings changed that. Across the start of the new millennium, the Wellington-born filmmaker redefined his directorial style and won new fans with equal fervour.
Halfway across Te Ika-a-Māui, or North Island however, a young boy was slowly starting to make his way towards another kind of destiny; a different lord of the ring, if you will.
Now, on the other side of the globe, Joseph Parker has the chance to cement his own reinvention, much as Jackson once did - and with it, snare the world's attention once again.
'A swing-and-miss result'
It feels strange to suggest a heavyweight world champion could be considered a relative unknown. But almost a decade ago, for many, the Kiwi fighter was an outsider in name.
Born to Samoan parents, Parker spent his formative years in Auckland, and built his amateur career as a super-heavyweight, narrowly missing out on the London 2012 Olympics.
As a professional however, he seldom ventured beyond home borders in New Zealand, with only the occasional undercard slot overseas to expose him to international waters.
The result meant that when he took the vacant WBO title against Andy Ruiz Jr. in late 2016 on his own patch, it was only the purists who predominantly sat up and took notice.
A year-and-a-half later, when Anthony Joshua convincingly outpointed him to end his reign, many more knew his name - but plenty didn't think he would find further success.
Much as Jackson came home empty-handed at the Academy Awards for Heavenly Creatures, Parker pulled up short at the top - and then followed with a swing-and-miss result.
A narrow loss to Dillian Whyte four months later was his own The Frighteners - a fine performance in the ring once again, but not enough sell many on future box-office potential.
The lean years that followed saw Parker churn through a production line of low-grade fighters, albeit topped by an entertaining domestic dust-up with old amateur foe Junior Fa.
'Technical artistry gilded with aggression'
But in 2021, he split from his trainer Kevin Barry and hired ex-WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee for his corner - a transformative decision that changed his trajectory.
Twenty years on from The Fellowship of the Ring, Parker announced his redesigned style on a Manchester stage against home favourite Derek Chisora in 2021 - and scored big.
A narrow split-decision triumph saw him gamble close to the line, surviving an early knockdown, but a more emphatic follow-up triumph the following winter set a new template.
Gone was the man whose name was bandied around as just another fighter Joshua had overcome on his way to the top. Now, here was a bona-fide star with the profile to match.
Queensberry/Leigh Dawney
A late knockout loss to Joe Joyce in 2022 could have sunk momentum, but Parker promptly rallied with a steady stream of solid wins; Jack Massey, Faiga Opelu, Simon McKean.
Here, there was his technical artisty gilded with aggression, a steady stream of intelligent performances that cut through the Sturm und Drang that so often dominates the ring.
They laid the platform for his superb victories over Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang, triumphs against rivals that served as psychological coup as much as progressive success.
If they represented The Two Towers of his revival, then Parker looked to have his shot at completing the long road back to the summit in February this year, against Daniel Dubois.
Victory would have echoed Jackson, who remained empty-handed at the Oscars until his trilogy-closer, The Return of the King, completed a historic clean sweep in early 2004.
'After a hundred years, they can still surprise you'
Yet fate has had other ideas. An illness for the Briton meant that Parker's chance slipped through his grasp - and then his mandatory shot at Oleksandr Usyk was waylaid too.
It means this weekend's bout with Fabio Wardley, at London's The O2, basically represents a straight shootout for a theoretical shot at the undisputed champion of the division.
Yet if the Ukrainian refuses to play ball with the sport's governing bodies, the victor could find themselves elevated to full champion, with both in possession of interim crowns.
Should it happen, Parker may feel aggrieved, robbed of the chance to face off with one of the sport's true masters for the chance to prove he offers similar greatness on canvas.
But that would miss the wider point - that in his journey back from the nadir of a world title loss half the world away from home, he has become one of the sport's best-loved stars.
In a crucial early scene during the first part of Jackson's trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring, the wizard Gandalf the Grey expresses a quiet delight about the will of Frodo Baggins.
"Hobbits really are amazing creatures," he intones gently. "You can learn all there is to know about their ways in a month, and yet after a hundred years they can still surprise you."
For Parker, his journey echoes Jackson's achievement both literally and metaphorically - and come this Saturday night, he could sit on the cusp of similar greatness once more.
Watch Parker vs Wardley live on DAZN
Joseph Parker and Fabio Wardley fight on Saturday, October 25, to become the WBO mandatory challenger to Oleksandr Usyk. Watch the fight and undercard live and exclusive on DAZN PPV.
