After an illness to Daniel Dubois pulled the IBF heavyweight champion from Saturday’s title defense on a loaded supercard from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Martin Bakole was there to answer the call.
Bakole (21-1, 16 KOs), a 6-foot-6 slugger from The Republic of Congo, accepted Thursday’s offer on just two days’ notice and immediately boarded an airplane to replace Dubois in the co-main event against former champion Joseph Parker (35-3, 23 KOs). The bout is part of a seven-fight pay-per-view card (DAZN PPV) from Kingdom Arena, which has now seen two bouts need late replacements due to illness during fight week.
Dubois’ promoter, Frank Warren of Queensberry Promotions, revealed during Thursday’s final press conference that his fighter was being checked by doctors and was in danger of being pulled from the card. “The Ring” magazine, which is owned by powerful Saudi Arabian adviser Turki Alalshikh, confirmed the news of the opponent change hours later on social media.
Although the exact illness affecting Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) has yet to be reported, his withdrawal comes just 48 hours after unbeaten lightweight Floyd Schofield Jr. was medically pulled from his title shot against WBO champion Shakur Stevenson, which led to unbeaten (yet unheralded) Josh Padley to agree to take his place and fight for the belt. Dubois’ IBF title will not be at stake in Parker-Bakole.
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The opportunity is still a massive one for Bakole, who entered the heavyweight title picture with a bang last August when he outslugged unbeaten American prospect Jared “Big Baby” Anderson via fifth-round knockout and drew comparisons due to his lumbering style to a young George Foreman. The 33-year-old Bakole is 10-0 with eight knockouts since his last loss in 2018 when he was stopped by Michael Hunter in Round 11 after badly injuring his shoulder earlier in the fight.
Dubois captured the vacant IBF title by knocking out Filip Hrgovic last June before defending it via brutal finish against former champion Anthony Joshua in September, which earned the native of England votes in the fighter of the year ballot. The winner of the originally scheduled Dubois-Parker fight was expected to face unified champion Oleksandr Usyk in an undisputed clash later this year.
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