Martin Bakole will look to pull off an upset as he accepted a fight with Joseph Parker just 36 hours before the fight.
Following the withdrawal of Daniel Dubois due to illness, Bakole has stepped up to fight Parker for his WBC Interim World Heavyweight title.
Bakole was scheduled to fight Efe Ajagba in May. However, he is understood to have not started his training camp yet.
The Congolese fighter will travel from his home country to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as Bakole looks to build on his knockout win over Jared Anderson last August.
However, a former sparring partner of both men has highlighted one issue that may play a role in the fight.
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Former sparring partner of Joseph Parker and Martin Bakole identifies issue for challenger
Nick Campbell is a 6-1 heavyweight boxer who has shared the ring with both Parker and Bakole in sparring.
Giving his opinion on the fight to Seconds Out, Campbell identified one potential issue for Bakole going into the bout.
“Martin was obviously supposed to be fighting in May, so he’d be right at the beginning of his camp for that. He looks pretty heavy… I don’t think he’s got the fitness for really high-paced 12 rounds.”
Campbell said that when you take that into consideration, he is leaning the way of Parker in terms of who will be victorious on Saturday.
However, Campbell feels that his opinion would be different if Bakole had a full training camp for the fight. “If Martin had a camp under his belt, it’s a 50/50 [fight].
Fans react to Martin Bakole’s physique ahead of short-notice fight
Bakole will travel to Saudi Arabia on Friday, 21st of February, just one day before his title fight with Parker.
As a photograph of the fighter was taken earlier in the week, fans had mixed opinions on the physical condition of the fighter.
Some boxing fans were concerned about the appearance of Bakole, implying the boxer is not fight-ready. “Now I understand why Bakole is a 3/1 underdog with the bookies,” one X user wrote.
Meanwhile, another added, “I’m only concerned about the cardio.”
However, there were also plenty of fans who felt the fighter’s shape would not affect the outcome of the fight.
Comments from X users included “Really don’t think it’ll be much of a problem, fights close to that anyway nowadays,” and “That means absolutely nothing, the big man can bang and take big shots.”