Joseph Parker ‘The Path’ (1973)

Joseph Parker - Sunrise In Blue (1973).

So far it’s been a tepid fight between Deontay Wilder and Joseph Parker. Wilder is primarily moving laterally, keeping to the ropes and trying to line up the right hand. Parker is controlling center ring, staying far outside of Wilder’s jab range so that he see’s any time Wilder initiates. He’s trying to catch wilder when he has both his feet square moving on the ropes but he’s having to leap in from like 4-5 feet away. He’s fast and staying low but not really what you want to be doing against Wilder for 12 rounds. Lots of reaching and lunging.

Joseph Parker

Joseph Parker, Untitled

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The Visions of Joseph Parker, part III

“In Aldous Huxley's 1959 lecture, Natural History of Visions, Huxley articulates the visionary realm as ‘…jewel-like luminescence evoking clarity in its multi-faceted and transparent shimmer and iridescent hues.’ This description evokes Parker’s world, a spectral world with one-point perspective using the symbol of the ascending path up the mountainous road to enlightenment.

In Parker’s own words:

Attaining the mountain top has a spiritual meaning as follows: All human souls on this planet are in a school of learning to perfect themselves in order to attain a higher state of being. I have painted the mountains very steep because as the soul masters the difficulties on the path, more difficult tests lie ahead. Once the soul reaches the peak, it attains what the Buddhists call Nirvana. Then the soul does not need to be reborn, but continues its evolution in the Spiritual Sun that surrounds the physical sun. On the top of the mountain is a holy being radiating out love in all directions.

Joseph Parker is one of the great mystic painters of the late 20th century. Mysticism, according to The Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions, is summarily defined as: ‘an apprehension of an ultimate non-sensuous unity in all things, a direct apperception of deity, the art of union with reality, an immediate contact or union of the self with a larger-than-self.’ Images of paradise can be found in the literature of all the world’s wisdom paths. The visionary abode of Buddha, as described in the Flower Ornament Sutra, is ‘made of jewels of various colors and decorated with all kinds of precious flowers. The various adornments emanated lights like clouds.’ Joseph Parker’s vision-scapes of the soul confirm the ideal world described by Socrates in the Phaedo, a world beyond compare to that which we know. ‘In this other earth the colors are much purer and more brilliant than they are down here. The mountains and stones have a richer gloss, a livelier transparency and intensity of hue.’”

— Joseph Parker, Carl Hammer Gallery

Herodotus, Father of History

“So that the deeds of man may not be forgotten in time, nor things great and wonderful.” This was the reason given by Herodotus of Halicarnassus as to why his first Western written history was created. Recording the events of the multiple Persian invasions into Greece (492-479 BCE) about 40 years after they occurred, Herodotus accumulated a knowledge of various cultures and their stories around the events of the invasions.  

Special Collections holds a few editions of the text. Shown here is Herodoti Halicarnassei Historiarum libri IX in 2 volumes with notes by the English classical scholar Thomas Gaisford, and printed in Oxford by Samuel Collingwood, printer to Oxford University, for Joseph Parker in 1830. This copy is presented in its original language and dialect of Attic Greek with notes in Latin.

Throughout the centuries, Herodotus’s title as the father of history has morphed into the father of lies given the inaccuracies and multiple retellings of the same events. While accuracy is what is sought in writing history, looking for such accuracies would overlook Herodotus’s methodology in collecting information. Less concerned with finding the exact details of the past, Herodotus instead inquired about the person's memory. Asking those he met about their culture and their society's history, Herodotus wrote down everything he heard despite his own beliefs and ideas. This methodology resulted in several different stories about the same event and legendary tales that exist outside of our reality. Despite all that, this history does give an authentic view of the type of world Herodotus lived in.  

This is edition was a gift from UW-Milwaukee Classics professor Kevin Muse.

View more of my Classics posts.

View more posts on Ancient Greece.

-- LauraJean Spear, Special Collections Undergraduate Classics Intern

Jesus Christ had nothing to say to the self-righteous. He left them to rot in their own conceit, He boycotted them, He would not deign to speak to them; for they did not realise their need of Him, and until need is realised prayer is impossible. 

Joseph Parker

TODAY'S MORNING LIGHT PHOTO:

Morning light photo NOW...

It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living. --F. Scott Fitzgerald

© Paolo Dala

Preachers And The After-party

Preachers of the Word, you will be wanted someday by Belshazzar. You were not at the beginning of the feast. You will be there before the banqueting hour is closed. The king will not ask you to drink wine, but he will ask you to tell him the secret of his pain and to heal the malady of his heart. Just wait your time, preachers. You are nobody now. Who cares for preachers and teachers and seers, men of insight while the wine goes around and the feast is unfolding its tempting luxuries. But the preacher will have his opportunity. They will send for him when all other friends have failed. May he then come fearlessly, independently, asking only to be a channel through which divine communication can be addressed. Then may he speak to the listening trouble of the world.

Joseph Parker

I missed the Parker/Wilder fight.

The result doesn't surprise me. Parker was no pushover.

Wilder has been talking about peace, and doing Ayahuasca and the visions he saw.

Plus the beatings he took from Fury has taken it out of him.

UPSET ALERT! Joseph Parker {+480} DEFEATS Deontay Wilder {-800} via 12 round DECISION. Will go 12 rounds {+325} & Parker wins by decision {+750} hits!

Deontay Wilder vs. Joseph Parker Fight Preview

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Published: December 23, 2023

Deontay Wilder (43-2-1, 42 KOs) and Joseph Parker (33-3, 23 KOs) will meet in a fascinating heavyweight fight this Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as part of the “Day of Reckoning” mega-card.

On the same night, Anthony Joshua meets Otto Wallin, Wilder will be looking to make a statement against Tyson Fury’s training partner, Parker. 

38-year-old Wilder has a history with Fury, having lost his WBC heavyweight title after 10 successful title defenses in the second fight of their trilogy in February 2020. After a controversial draw in 2018, Fury stopped the American in their second and third fights. Wilder bounced back in his only outing since, knocking out Robert Helenius in the first round in October 2022. 

Parker, like Wilder, aims to become heavyweight champion once again, and the New Zealander faces arguably his toughest career fight on Saturday in his quest to re-attain his spot at the top. 

Asked in an interview with Boxing News’ YouTube channel if Wilder is his toughest career fight so far, Parker replied: “Yeah, he (Wilder) will be the toughest, and, for me, I think this year has been great because I have been keeping busy. I feel I’ve got good momentum, and we’ll soon find out if that momentum’s going to pay off on Saturday.

“Look at the fighters he’s fought, his record and knockout ratio. He’s knocked out everyone he’s fought, except for Tyson Fury. So he’s a very dangerous fighter and a lot of people don’t want to fight him, but I think now is a great time for me to fight him. He hasn’t been in the ring for a year. When he did have that fight with Helenius, it was one round.”

Parker has significant experience of his own, having fought the likes of Andy Ruiz Jr, Anthony Joshua, Dillian Whyte, Dereck Chisora twice, and Joe Joyce. The former WBO heavyweight champion is on a three-fight win streak, and is one of the most active heavyweights, set to make his fourth outing in 2023. 

Since October 2021, Wilder has fought for less than three minutes, but Parker has fought five times, winning four of those fights, losing one via KO to Joe Joyce, the only time he has ever been knocked out.

Alongside inactivity, Wilder is now 38 years of age. As we all know, Father Time waits for no man, and it can strike at any moment. Wilder may not meet Father Time on Saturday night, but that unbeaten opponent is bound to strike sooner or later as “The Bronzebomber” gets closer and closer to 40. A huge factor may also be Wilder’s mental state following those brutal back-to-back losses to Fury, as well as his physical capability to receive punishment like he previously could after such grueling encounters. When he talks, he certainly appears very confident in himself. The key question will be the extent to which that translates to fight night after the first bell. Rarely can fighters come out of the fights Wilder endured against Fury as the same fighter. Inevitably, when also factoring in age and inactivity, it can take its toll, and this may be the best opportunity Parker will ever have to capitalize. 

For a short time following the consecutive title fight losses to Fury, by his own admission, Wilder seriously considered retirement. He frequently states, in interviews, that he has not missed boxing during his time away from the ring and that he no longer needs boxing. If he’s been enjoying his life a bit too much away from the ring, having achieved what he set out to achieve in boxing and having attained generational wealth, the ingredients may be there for a hungry opponent to derail the Bronzebomber’s Anthony Joshua plans.

As we know, power is the last thing to go. If there is one man who can make inactivity and ring rust a completely irrelevant factor, it is Wilder, with the type of one-punch knockout power that surely makes him one of the hardest hitters in history.

As Wilder has always said, opponents must be perfect for 36 minutes; he only has to be perfect for one second. That Thor-like power in his right hand has helped Wilder escape from numerous decision losses, but it wasn’t enough to beat Fury. Fury wasn’t able to escape it, however, and had to prove his extraordinary recuperative powers by getting back up and weathering the storm more than once. Can Parker do the same? Few can. 

Parker operates at a much higher level than Helenius, and it will be interesting to get a better picture of whether Wilder has been affected by those Fury losses. 

Amongst Parker’s big fights, his only noteworthy wins have come against Ruiz via a narrow majority decision and Chisora. Parker has tended to fall short at the highest level. As the better technical boxer with momentum and activity on his side on the night, is this the time when the New Zealander changes that trend?

Parker has always been known as a tough, durable fighter with a good chin to match his skills. Was his KO loss to Joyce in September last year a sign of wear and tear after a long career consisting of numerous tough, grueling fights, or more indicative of Joyce’s relentless pressure fighting? It will be interesting to see, but any decline in punch resistance can be viciously exposed against a devastating puncher like Wilder. 

At the weigh-in, with Wilder weighing in at 213 pounds and Parker hitting the scales at 245.3 pounds, Wilder believes his unorthodox fighting style will favor him against the Samoan heavyweight: “I’ve fought his (Parker) style before, he’s never fought a style like mine. He has never felt the power that I bring, and I possess.”

Legendary trainer Cus D’Amato once said: “Boxing is entertainment, so to be successful, a fighter must not only win, but he must win in an exciting manner. He must throw punches with bad intentions.”

Wilder epitomizes this statement by Cus from years ago. Most people watch boxing in hopes of witnessing a knockout, and Wilder is the most exciting fighter out there for fans of the knockout. Every right hand thrown is with the meanest intentions, with no objective other than to render an opponent unconscious in devastating fashion.

Will Wilder add another victim to his extensive knockout highlight reel and, providing Joshua also comes through, finally seal that long-awaited mega-fight, or will Parker go 4-0 in 2023 with a career-best victory that propels him to the summit of the heavyweight division?

(Featured Photo: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)

Joseph Parker upsets Deontay Wilder. Takes Unanimous Decision.

Joseph Parker boxes up Deontay Wilder with an overhand right, a jab, and some body work from the clinch.

Wilder just did not throw until the 12th round. Just a terrible terrible fight from the Wilder camp. No gameplan. No adjustments. And yeah, this is how Wilder always fights but at 38 he's struggling to pull the trigger.

2022.09.24 Joe Joyce vs. Joseph Parker Silver WBC WBO International WBO Inter-Continental lourds

Joe Joyce and Joseph Parker put on quite a show this past Saturday night in Manchester. Great fight and pleasing looks from both fighters. Nothing to complain about with Parker’s sequined black, red and blue look -- but I really enjoyed Joyce’s white trunks with multi-color overlapping leaf design. This isn’t the first time Joyce has delivered a great and unique set, by the way. As a sidebar - this fight featured a less common Fly vs Paffin Sport glove match-up.

Had ye believed in agnosticism ye would have believed in God, and had ye believed in God ye would have believed in agnosticism. Is not that paradoxical? Far from it; it is by keeping close company with Jesus Christ that we begin to know that God is unknowable, that He has kept some things wholly to Himself, that there is no searching of His understanding, and that He can only be knowable by condescension and by revelation. God is unknowable, but God has the power to make Himself known in the degree in which our capacity can receive Him. [Now] keep steadily in mind what the purpose of this meditation is, namely, to show that a right belief at the beginning [allows for such a capacity, and as it grows] compels a man to add to that belief everything that is kindred and cognate to its own quality and its own purpose... one belief necessitates another, [and] faith grows towards more faith in the degree in which it is originally true, intelligent, and sincerely held. [Thus] the great religion of the Bible takes into itself– by an absorption vindicated by fact and by spiritual righteousness– all that is true, beautiful, musical, benevolent, philanthropic; it will not allow one daisy to fall out of its lap, and it has accommodation enough for the planets. Know that your first faith is right, because you are growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. [Yet] have we faith? The spirit of faith longs for more worlds for faith to conquer. Lord, increase our faith; give us vision after vision of Thy loveliness and Thy majesty, and give these visions to us, not in response to our vanity, intellectual or moral, but in response to an earnest desire to know somewhat more of the vastness of Thy kingdom, and the beneficence of Thine empire.

Joseph Parker