Joseph Parker would not want your pity, not least because he expects to beat Martin Bakole on Saturday. But the reality is, the New Zealander has taken a massive, surely unnecessary risk on two day’s notice: a risk to his legacy, his future earnings, and his health.
Forty-eight hours before fight night, a night on which Parker was due to box for a world title for the first time in seven years, he found that the mechanism of his redemption lacked a crucial cog: a world champion to beat.
Daniel Dubois fell ill, then fell out of his IBF title defence against Parker, guaranteeing that the latter will not become a two-time world champion this weekend. Now, the fear among those who sympathise with the “nicest guy in boxing” is that Parker may never become a two-time champion.
To be clear: the odds rightly favour Parker in his clash with Bakole, who replaces Dubois on two days’ notice. Parker is enjoying a career resurgence that his featured wins over Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang in the last 14 months. The 33-year-old bullied Wilder in late 2023 and twice climbed off the canvas to beat Zhang last March, beating each man on points. Parker is a smarter, sharper, better-rounded boxer than he was when he first won a world title, at the age of just 24. Many would argue he is a smarter, sharper, better-rounded boxer than Bakole or Dubois.
And yet there is no doubt: accepting a short-notice fight with Bakole, the “most-avoided” heavyweight in boxing, is a major risk. Even more so because anyone with sense would have understood Parker declining to fight at all, in Dubois’s absence. He could have waited for a bout against Dubois later this year, and Saturday’s event is stacked, even without the Briton or Parker involved (some have called it the “greatest” in boxing history).
In any case, the counter would be that any fight is a risk, especially at heavyweight, and especially against Bakole – regardless of timing. But Parker clawed his way out of boxing’s great void after losses to Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte, reached an interim-title fight with Joe Joyce, lost, escaped that bleak space again… and now he is risking a long-awaited, desperately-craved world-title shot.
He is risking it in Riyadh against a devastating foe with nothing to lose, for whom he has had no time to prepare. Bakole, 31, has also lacked preparation of course, and he lacks the rich resume of Parker. But according to the Congolese, his resume is misleading, all due to his success in sparring against elite opponents – who then avoid him on actual fight nights, he says. While Parker has been fighting for his shot at world gold, Bakole has been fighting for a shot at anyone of note. He has had no time to prepare for Parker, but he has been preparing for a moment like this for years.
Bakole, who fights out of Scotland, also knows what it’s like to disrupt the best-laid plans of mice and boxing moguls. He provided such an example in August, when he squared off with Jared Anderson in Los Angeles. The 25-year-old was not the major name that Bakole had been seeking, but he was an unbeaten prospect, highly touted. Anderson crashed to the mat three times before he was saved while on his feet.
Parker, though, knows what it’s like to hit the canvas and keep on fighting. Twice he was floored by Zhang, and still he heard the final bell, which soundtracked a remarkable victory. “Those are the moments when you have to really knuckle down, show good form, and be calm under pressure,” he told The Independent before the Dubois fight was cancelled. “I think if Zhang had a better gas tank, it could’ve been a different fight. But I did my work, my fitness and endurance was very good.
“I did a bit of work on staying calm under pressure, with a few guys outside of boxing. Using imagery in your head, I think, is very important – because when something happens, it’s not a shock to the system; you’ve already played it many times, you know how to come back from it.”
Parker had to be honest with himself as he bid to reinvent his career for the second time, after his loss to Joyce in 2022, and he was honest with himself when he spoke of “imagery”. He knew he would have to envision being dropped by Dubois, rising to his feet, and staying calm. Such imagery will not go to waste, but now Parker has to picture Bakole, because there is a very real chance that the Kiwi must battle through adversity on Saturday.
If Parker can do that, he will keep his world-title dream alive and set up another eye-watering payday. As for his health? It may take some considerable hits against Bakole, regardless of the result. Parker believes it is worth the risk – all of it.
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