Parker drills Bakole in 2nd round to retain interim heavyweight belt
Fight made on 3 days' notice when Dubois withdrew due to illness
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Joseph Parker has always been of the mindset that he would fight anyone and he kept true to his word.
When IBF heavyweight titleholder Daniel Dubois fell ill on Thursday and withdrew from a defense against Parker, he did not hesitate to accept the dangerous Martin Bakole on three days’ notice.
And then Parker, the WBO interim titleholder, knocked out Bakole in the second round to retain the belt for the first time in the co-feature of the Riyadh Season DAZN PPV card headlined by the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol undisputed light heavyweight title fight on Saturday at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“Martin Bakole, thank you very much for accepting the challenge and flying all the way here on short notice and giving me a good fight,” Parker said. “I just went out there and listened to (trainer) Andy (Lee), stayed calm, structured, composed, and got the victory.”
