Joseph Parker’s Saturday fight night was plunged into uncertainty when his slated opponent, Daniel Dubois, pulled out two days before the first bell.
IBF heavyweight champion Dubois suffered an illness which sparked a last-minute scramble for Parker’s team, as well as Saudi Arabian organisers, to find a new challenger for the hotly-anticipated co-main event in Riyadh.
The man who promptly stepped up to the plate is Martin Bakole. At the drop of a hat, the 31-year-old’s week, and potentially the rest of his life, has completely transformed.
According to The Times, Bakole was hard at work clearing a patch of farmland in his home country of the Democratic Republic of the Congo when he got the call-up to fight Parker. Not long afterwards, he was bundled on a plane and flown to the Middle East.
Bakole and his camp have long complained about being one of the most-avoided fighters in the heavyweight division. He had been preparing for a final eliminator against Efe Ajagba in May, but with the opportunity to compete in the biggest fight of his career landing in his lap, he jumped at the chance to face Parker at just 48 hours’ notice.
“This is unbelievable,” he said. “It feels like I’m dreaming. I think I will shock the world tomorrow. A boxer is like a soldier. Anytime they ask you to go to war, always be ready, no matter what.”
With his purse estimated to be in the region of £1.6million, Bakole is also on course for a bumper payday. The 6ft 6in slugger, who boasts a professional record of 21 wins and only one defeat, was born in Kananga but moved to the Scottish town of Airdrie in 2016.
His trainer, Billy Nelson, has been singing his praises ever since. “Martin is by far the best fighter I have ever trained,” said the Scot. “He is technically fantastic, naturally gifted, which makes my job a bit easier but the most important part for me is just tweaking some of the areas, fight management and guiding him through. He really is a fast learner.”
Bakole is from good fighting stock. His older brother, Ilunga Makabu, was a world champion at cruiserweight and fought the likes of Tony Bellew and Badou Jack.
Now, Bakole is ready to catapult himself into the big time. The Congolese has sparred with heavyweight big shots like Tyson Fury, Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua, while he claims to have caused serious problems for the man he replaced.
“I sparred Daniel Dubois twice and I stopped him twice,” he said. “He knows and his team knows. I would stop him in the first or second round. People are hiding away because they don’t want to fight me.”
