Martin Bakole took a big risk by agreeing to step in for a sick Daniel Dubois to face Joseph Parker on 48 hours’ notice. That risk did not pay off for Bakole as a glancing Parker right hand to the temple put Bakole down and forced the corner to halt the fight prior to the end of the second round of the co-main event on the undercard of Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2.
Bakole had garnered the label of “the boogeyman of the heavyweight division,” with his power, size and ability to walk down opponents leading to trouble finding opponents. To Parker’s credit, he jumped at the chance to face Bakole after Dubois pulled out of the bout, taking the IBF heavyweight title with him.
After a first round that saw both men mostly feeling the other out, Parker landed a right hand that glanced off the side of Bakole’s head and sent him into a slow motion tumble to the canvas as his equilibrium betrayed him.
While Bakole beat the count, his corner jumped on the apron and waived the fight off.
The short-notice nature of the fight showed on Bakole’s body as he weighed in over 310 pounds. In his statement win over Jared Anderson last August, Bakole weighed 284 pounds.
Parker is now riding a six-fight win streak, with his three most recent wins, all in Saudi Arabia, all standing out as high-level victories. Parker was supposed to challenge for the IBF title before Dubois’ withdrawal and maintains his status as an obvious world title challenger after making easy work of one of the most avoided men in the division.
