Don't dream it's over: Joseph Parker left to reckon with future amid heavyweight crowded house

Few musical theologians would argue against the place of Neil Finn as one of New Zealand's premier songwriters, even if Australia likes to lay claim to Crowded House, too.

The Melbourne-formed rock band captured the imagination of the world across the late eighties and early nineties, thanks in no small part to their frontman's lyrical eloquence.

Finn, who later replaced Lindsey Buckingham in Fleetwood Mac and continues to tour the world, has often found a mastery when it comes to the mundane and the magical.

But it is in the group's most enduring hit that some of his most epochal sentiments are found, bound up together in a handful of verse-and-chorus lines in under four minutes.

In Don't Dream It's Over, its first stanza concludes thus: There's a battle ahead, many battles are lost / but you'll never see the end of the road while you're traveling with me.

Such sentiments - and indeed the title itself - come freighted with multiple meanings, open to interpretation and exploration for the bonds and legacies that they represent.

For Joseph Parker now, however, it will be time to discover whether a glass-half-full philosophy can sustain his dreams after a loss that could prove one setback too many.

'Two missed chances and a third gamble'

Almost ten years ago, a clean-shaven Parker was poised to become king of the world, his domestic exploits having laid a path to world title glory and a slice of boxing history.

Now, held against the ropes by referee Howard Foster after he intervened for a late stoppage against Fabio Wardley, the veteran star may have seen his second bite slip away.

It is one of sport's inevitable cruelties that there must be winners and losers - but for Parker, this actual reverse effectively is the third of a year and the only one within his powers.

There was no blame to be laid at his feet for the illness that robbed him of Daniel Dubois in the ring. There was no fault for Oleksandr Usyk to delay his mandatory challenge.

Ultimately, Parker saw two opportunities to become a two-time world champion pulled from his grasp by the whims of fate and other men, and his third gamble went up in flames.

Plenty will stand on their soapboxes to remind defenders that the Auckland-born fighter had no obligation to take this fight, that he could have bided his time for Usyk to be ready.

Instead, in a testament to his take-all-comers philosophy, he took the biggest name he could get for this opportunity - and came brutally close to rubber-stamping his credentials.

'Further losses risk prizefighter lustre'

They say that history remembers the victors; however, after a fourth career loss, there must now be serious consideration by Parker and Andy Lee in regards to his future.

Unfairly or not, prizefighters in the modern era are so frequently held on their record alone, irrespective of the memories they leave for thousands of boxing fans to savor.

Anthony Joshua, still considered one of the five leading heavyweights in the world, surely saw his lustre dim after Dubois dispatched him for a fourth consecutive time last year.

Just a few months away from his thirty-fourth birthday, Parker's love of the fight cannot be disputed. Nor can his faith and conviction, his willingness to stick rather than twist.

But even as he suggests his prime years are ahead of him, the crowded house of a heavyweight division filled with new stars and rising talents offers a crucial pause for thought.

The dream remains a second stint as world champion - but with his WBO interim title ripped from his hands, Parker now holds no bargaining chip to entice those top-tier rivals.

In a best-case scenario, he is at least two fights away from another shot, and likely three if Usyk backs up expectations and entertains Wardley's challenge for the biggest prize.

'Pathways remain but horizon slowly grows darker'

Again, through little fault of his own, Parker has spent much of the past year and a half in a state of inactivity. Contested sparring can only go so far to replicate the real deal.

If he is to be realistic, it will be 2027 until he has the opportunity again to take a shot at a title fight, let alone figure in one - unless he can fast-track a major opponent.

There are pathways, undoubtedly. A grudge match with Dubois, a shot at WBC interim Agit Kabayel, even taming the roaring prospect of Moses Itauma, who leads the new guard.

Parker will not be afraid of the risks. In a typically gracious concession speech in the small hours over the weekend, he acknowledged the difference of opinion on Foster's call.

But there was no rage against the dying of the light, just a tacit respect for Wardley's efforts and a reiterated desire to both face him again and fight on long into the sunset.

Yet that horizon is slowly growing darker, no matter how many battles are ahead, and how many are lost. The end of the road is slowly hoving into view around the corner.

Joseph Parker has every right to dream that it is not over yet. But as the future catches up with the past and present, his ultimate reckoning will come sooner rather than later.

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