Paul Lewis: Joseph Parker only did what he was supposed to do

New Zealand heavyweight boxer Joseph Parker celebrates his win over Andy Ruiz Jr. Photo / Photosport

Joseph Parker must feel like the man who won the lottery but accidentally flushed the winning ticket down the loo.

Parker has endured a flood of undermining criticism since he beat Andy Ruiz, essentially saying: "He's not the real world champ", with some even claiming he lost. It's difficult to recall such acid rain on a sportsman who did only what he was supposed to do - win.

Former heavyweight Lance Revill, a man whose career was hugely overshadowed by Parker's, claimed Ruiz was "ripped off". A judge and referee, Revill said Parker not only lost the fight but had done so by a ludicrously wide margin. Revill then resigned from a boxing body you've never heard of because it is backed by the WBO. It's a bit like Winnie The Pooh resigning from the United Nations - significant only because no one knew he was there in the first place.

Revill, like the 80-year-old Sir Bob Jones, was formerly involved with Parker but neither seem to have come to terms with his success and the fact Duco manage him now. Jones launched a rambling diatribe on Radio Sport, saying Parker is not a credible world heavyweight champion and describing his WBO belt as a "bogus title". Wonder how he felt about it when Wladimir Klitschko held it for seven years?

Jones likes to position himself as the expert on boxing; everyone else knows nothing.

This is the same Jones who, in his Herald column in 2009, predicted Shane Cameron would prevail over an ageing David Tua in their famed encounter. Tua knocked Cameron down three times in the first round and landed so many punches in the first seven seconds of the second round that the fight was stopped.

Perhaps the most damaging criticism came from boxing literary giant Thomas Hauser.

Muhammad Ali's biographer, prolific author and boxing authority, Hauser called the Parker-Ruiz bout "an embarrassment" and said neither was an elite fighter: "Joseph Parker has limited ability ... don't call this a world championship fight because that demeans the sport of boxing."

Unfortunately, 70-year-old Hauser demeans himself. His wonderful 1991 book, Muhammad Ali, His Life and Times, is recognised as the premier perusal of Ali's life and personality. But let's face it, Ali was a god. Once you have sat at the feet of gods, mere young contenders like Parker must look like false idols. Hauser seems locked in a time warp; to him, boxing was greater then, end of story.

Old age can also make you mean; it is hardly the fault of the fighters they are in an era of competing boxing organisations like the WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF, all bodies of rampant self-interest diluting the fight game with a quest for money and champions who are often not champions of the world in the correct use of the phrase.

Boxing's alphabet soup organisations are also not the only people interested in money.

One day after Ali died, a book was published called Muhammad Ali: A Tribute To The Greatest. Author: Thomas Hauser.

I would also quote back to Hauser some of his own words in the Guardian, also one day after Ali died: "Years ago, Muhammad telephoned to wish me a Merry Christmas. 'Think about it,' I suggested. "A Muslim calling a Jew to wish him well on a Christian holiday. There's a message in that for anyone who's listening. 'We're all trying to get to the same place,' Muhammad told me."

So are Ruiz and Parker. They aren't pretending to be Muhammad Ali and there is little point in shooting the athletes if you believe a sport has gone to the dogs. They can only fight what is in front of them; change isn't always good but comparing sporting eras is about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike.

Regular readers of this column may recall, on October 22, a reminder that even if Parker won against Ruiz, he would be a world champ and not the world champ - a perspective less mean-spirited if said before the fight and not afterwards. Any objective ranking of the world's best heavyweights would have Parker at No5 (behind Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder, Wladimir Klitschko and Tyson Fury) and maybe No6 if Cuban Luis Ortiz lives up to his reputation (he hasn't yet).

But Parker has plenty of time to mature and improve. Whether he can beat the giants ahead of him, seriously big men, is another matter. Sport is all about hope, even if boxing is often about bullshit - which affected even Ali. Hauser forced Ali to admit the old tale about him throwing his Olympic gold medal in a river because of a racial incident was false. Someone had stolen it or Ali had lost it.

There it is - even the great old era, and the greatest boxer there has ever been, once had feet of Clay.