COMMENT
The best thing Joseph Parker can do is ignore his low blow victory over some bloke most of us have never heard of on Saturday night.
There was never anything to learn from his Lurch in Christchurch, but plenty to lose if Parker thinks his heavyweight boxing title aspirations are back on track.
Rather than silence the critics, of whom there are very few in this country anyway, he halted the rising number of sceptics with his quick demolition of Alexander Flores.
But the world wasn't watching, as Parker delivered blows both low and devastating.
Parker's management team Duco Events has an influential way of over-selling Parker, but the man himself needs to keep it real if he's got any hope of finding powers within to topple the very best, if another chance comes his way.
Anything which dilutes his desperation will be death knell for his faint world title hopes. The cocky, theatrical build-up to his shot-of-a-lifetime against Anthony Joshua this year did Parker no favours.
For the first time in a long time, Parker apparently kept his promise on Saturday night in demolishing American Flores, whose world ranking is so low it is irrelevant.
I say apparently, because Duco and Sky can take a running jump if they think $40 of mine is heading their way for such a trivial contest.
The previously anonymous Flores collapsed in a hurried defeat in what, at best, could be called a holding operation for Parker's career.
It was an over-priced jack-up for Parker against a bloke who has fought maybe one decent fighter, who he lost to, and beaten a lot of others whose records look like close tennis set scores and not always winning ones.
It has been a truly amazing year for Parker whose unification battle against Anthony Joshua in front of a near 80,000 crowd in Cardiff should set the young Aucklander up financially for life.
The fairytale nature of that story is certainly legitimate. Parker didn't make a very good fist of his big chance, but it was a damn good achievement — by Parker and his handlers — to get that far in the first place.
Isolation and our general unfamiliarity with boxing, and the rarity of having a heavyweight contender, means it is hard to get a decent handle on where Parker truly stands in the murky boxing universe.
But the spin is starting to turn people away. When Parker lost to Dillian Whyte, his camp highlighted an alleged head butt which was more a head clash. In contrast when he delivers below the belt against Flores it's all above board.
And Duco claims that the victory over Flores was a statement performance from Parker, that he'd sent a message to the heavyweight division, that he was "firmly back into the mix for another title shot" are nonsense.
Knowing how boxing works, it's impossible to know who might get a title shot outside of the biggest drawcards, and Parker ain't no major drawcard anymore. British heavyweight boxing and boxing in general have much bigger fish to fry.
There hasn't been much of a reaction at all to the Parker-Flores fight, if you look at the mainstream media, or even some boxing sites. It was a non-event. Anthony Joshua hasn't broken out in a cold sweat.
The Badlefthook website put Parker's victory into the best perspective.
"Parker keeps himself in the mix among the top 10 heavyweights," it wrote, before pointing out a scenario which could prevent an exciting re-match against Whyte.
It continued: "But Parker's done what he had to do, anyway, snapping a two-fight losing streak and putting himself in the spot as best he can."
In stock market terms, Parker has undergone a decent "correction" this year.
We'd love to see a rebound, but it is a volatile situation.
For now Joe "Low Blow" Parker beat Joe Below Average in Christchurch. And that's about all.
The 36-year-old is at a career crossroads after a second-straight loss.