Martin Bakole will step up on two days’ notice to replace Daniel Dubois, who was forced to withdraw from his Joseph Parker fight due to illness.
The Congolese fighter with a 21-1 record will get his first opportunity to become a world champion. Parker and Bakole will compete for the WBC Interim World Heavyweight title, as the fighter from New Zealand will now look to defend his belt.
Despite the extremely short notice of Dubois’ withdrawal, a more-than-suitable replacement was found in the way of Bakole.
Although Bakole’s one career loss came via stoppage, he has been flawless in his career since then.
This even includes the impressive knockout victory he scored to put himself in a position to fight Parker.
- READ MORE: ‘That’s a monumental risk’… Fans shocked as Daniel Dubois replacement for Joseph Parker revealed
Martin Bakole had an incredible performance over Jared Anderson in 2024
In his last outing, Bakole had the most impressive display of his career to date.
August of 2024 would see Bakole take on Jared Anderson for the WBO International Heavyweight and North American Boxing Federation Heavyweight titles.
Anderson was given significant praise by boxing great Roy Jones Jr., who described the fighter as the “future face of American heavyweight boxing”.
However, Anderson was handed his first professional defeat when he fought Bakole.
Despite going into the bout with a 17-0 record, Anderson would taste defeat for the first time.
Anderson would be knocked down for the first time in his career in the opening round of the bout, following a right hand from Bakole.
The punches from Bakole would add up over the course of the coming rounds, as the fifth round would see Anderson go down for a second time to seemingly innocent punches. Shortly after the restart from the count, Bakole would send Anderson down for a third time.
Despite restarting the action after the third knockdown, the fight would be called towards the end of the fifth, as Anderson still looked hurt.
Bakole’s win would catch the attention of the heavyweight division and would eventually led to his opportunity versus Parker.
- READ MORE: Who is Joseph Parker? Meet the former world champion who fought Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder
Ben Shalom describes how Martin Bakole vs Joseph Parker came together
Bakole’s promoter Ben Shalom has detailed how the short-notice fight between Bakole and Parker came to fruition less than an hour after Dubois’ withdrawal.
Speaking to DAZN, Shalom said, “I said to the team [Bakole’s team] would they take it, and they said yes… [Bakole’s team] was calling me saying, ‘Go on, let’s get it forward.'”
Shalom would go on to add that he didn’t actually think the bout would come to fruition but gave credit to Turki Alalshikh for getting the fight done.
Despite taking the fight on two days’ notice, Shalom said, “Martin is ready to go.”