Joseph Parker was supposed to be fighting for a world title. His scheduled bout with Daniel Dubois would have put DD’s IBF heavyweight championship belt on the line, a chance for Parker to become a two-time champion following his WBO reign from 2016-2018. No New Zealand boxer has ever been a multiple world champ before. Sure, Parker would have been the slight underdog against hard-hitting Dubois... but wins over Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang had put him in a great space, his partnership with trainer Andy Lee really blossoming, and he was in the shape of his life after a dedicated training camp. Not only that but weighing in at his heaviest ever fight weight of 121.1 kilograms shows he was ready for a brawl too.

Then Daniel Dubois pulled a sickie. Got a doctor’s note a couple of days before the bout and had to be replaced in a hurry. Parker didn’t flinch as potential last-minute replacements such as Lawrence Okolie, David Adeleye, and undefeated Frenchman Mourad Aliev were mentioned as possibilities. Nor did he blink when Scottish-based Congolese hard-hitter Martin Bakole ultimately got the gig. Bakole hadn’t fought anyone of major consequence in his career but a brutal knockout of previously-undefeated American prospect Jared Anderson in August seemed to have cemented his status as The Guy Nobody Wants To Face. 31 years old entering the ring with a 21-1 (16 KO) record. Nearly two metres tall with serious power. His lone defeat was a tenth round knockout against Michael Hunter but that was way back in 2018.

Fortunately for Joe Parker, his previous two fights were also against man-giants: Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang (the latter of whom got knocked out by Agit Kabayel earlier in this same event). In fact, by a strange coincidence, Wilder, Zhang, and Bakole are all listed by Boxrec as 198cm tall (compared to Parker at 193cm). Daniel Dubois is 196cm so these buggers are all very tall.

Joseph Parker vs Martin Bakole

Despite the prevailing fairytale narrative about Bakole’s courage in taking the fight at such short notice, despite the reputation he has as a danger man in the division... it turns out that flying into the country at 3am on the day of the fight, arriving so late that he didn’t even have time to get his gloves cleared by the authorities and therefore had to wear Dubois’ ones, without any time to prepare or any kind of specialised training camp... is actually not a good way to win a heavyweight boxing bout. It got quite annoying how many pundits seemed to be giving Martin Bakole a genuine chance despite his insane handicaps. If there was any prevailing doubt, it should have dissipated when Bakole weight in at 140kgs – ten kegs heavier than his previous fight. Fair play to him for taking a punt but let’s be serious here.

Joseph Parker stayed serious. He stayed so serious that he knocked Bakole out in the second round. Bakole offered nothing of any significance in those five-and-a-bit minutes so Parker simply bided his time, testing out Bakole’s jab, and then ripped him through the gap. The knockout blow was a glancing one to Bakole’s temple which didn’t look as bad as the reaction that it extracted, with Bakole wobbling into a spin cycle before rocking the canvas (although a glancing blow from a heavyweight is probably harder than any of us have been punched in our lives). But if you watch it back you’ll see he’d already walloped him twice in the face prior to the clinching shot. That’s probably what did the deed and the glancing finisher was just the straw that broke the camel’s back.

For whatever reason, it kinda feels like the British boxing commentators have never rated Joseph Parker. Probably because he keeps fighting against their dudes (and to be fair all three of his defeats have come against Englishmen: Anthony Joshua, Dillian Whyte, and Joe Joyce). Listen to the commentary on that clip and you’ll hear the bloke talk about how Bakole “just shakes it off” after getting slammed between the eyes by a Parker overhand right. Then the other guy started to explain how “disheartening” that must have been for Parker to see his punch have such little effect. Except that it didn’t have such little effect. Because before old mate could finish his sentence, Bakole was on the deck with his legs in the air. Also, to be clear, it was Bakole’s trainer Billy Nelson that stopped the fight, not the referee. Bakole’s own corner withdrew him realising the dream wasn’t going to happen.

This was the ringside reaction of Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua as Parker got the stoppage...

Parker’s never been known for his power, he’s much more about speed and durability. Most of his knockouts have come against guys whom he completely outclassed while almost all of his most consequential wins have come via points decisions. He beat Carlos Takam on the scorecards. Same deal with Andy Ruiz for his world title. Razvan Cojanu. Hughie Fury. Derek Chisora twice. Deontay Wilder. Zhilei Zhang. A stoppage like this was a rarity for this fella. Then again, so was fighting a dude who arrived so late that he missed the official weigh-ins.

One thing that everybody accepted, even the Parker skeptics, was that Bakole would have to do his damage early. There was no way he’d be able to last twelve rounds with one of the most durable guys in the division when only one of them had trained for the fight. And yet during those early rounds it was Parker who dominated, showing far more accuracy with his power punches even though he wasn’t even being very aggressive. Bakole was. Bakole started letting his hands fly in the second round (after realising he couldn’t touch Parker with his jabs) but not to any great effect. That was supposed to be Bakole’s best window of opportunity and instead that’s when he got dropped and stopped. Comprehensive from Parker, who didn’t have to get out of first gear.

Dubois And His Sniffles

This is where things get frisky because negotiations in the heavyweight boxing world can be very weird. Joseph Parker did not get the title shot he was training for but the nature of this victory still continues his upwards momentum. Seeing him drop a big man like that should make a rescheduled Dubois vs Parker fight even more enticing than the original was going to be. If all was fair and balanced in this sport then that’s exactly the fight that should happen next. It wouldn’t even have to be a long wait. Parker barely exerted himself against Bakole so they could probably turn it around in a couple months.

It’d be great if they do because not only would we then get a fantastic title fight between two motivated dudes but we’d also get a re-run of one of the most hilarious promo tours the world has ever witnessed. Two nice, humble blokes who just can’t maintain the tough guy nonsense yet feel the pressure to keep trying it all the same... this was Flight of the Conchords level of deadpan hilarity. From Parker talling DD to “shut your face” to the extended stare downs. C’est magnifique.

Sadly, DD’s promoted Frank Warren has already scratched that possibility.

Frank Warren: “You have to look at the next move and I think that will be either Usyk in an all-belt affair for the four belts or maybe AJ [Anthony Joshua]. We will have to work that out in the next week or so. We will talk through the options as a team and make a decision. Everyone's view is important but the most important view is Daniel's because he is the one getting into the ring and he makes the ultimate decision.”

At which point you have to wonder if there’s a stitch-up at play. Especially since Usyk himself has been talking about that Dubois fight too, shrugging off the post-fight challenge of Parker’s in favour of re-unifying the belts. It all seems very convenient. Dubois skips out on the risky battle with the Samoan-Kiwi and goes straight into a rematch with Usyk instead (who knocked him out in the ninth round in 2022 when they met previously). Meanwhile, Parker gets shafted and, at best, won’t get to challenge for a world title again until next year.

This isn’t to suggest that the illness was faked. This was a fight night in Saudi Arabia, with all the money and power that entails, and the promoters would not have wanted to spoil the second-top bout on a card that was promoted as being one of the strongest and deepest in the sport’s history. Dubois had to get a medical opinion to back out. Perhaps someone like Parker himself would have attempted to fight through the illness... but when that risks spoiling a career’s worth of work you can forgive a brother for going in the other direction. And it’s not like it was all beneficial. By not fighting, Dubois misses out on the payday – one for which Martin Bakole, as a short-notice replacement, was apparently “life-changing”. That means that his entire training camp, with all his employees and facilities and whatnot, are now going to have to be paid for out of his own pocket (granted, a Usyk payday would more than make up for the losses).

Nah, the shadiness stems from the fact that they canned the fight rather than postponing it. Could be that there was pressure from the promoters to ensure a fight went ahead. It happened with one of the other fights in this event, with Floyd Schofield scratched from his lightweight challenge against Shakur Stevenson and replaced by Josh Padley at short notice (though not quite Bakole short notice). Parker’s camp always assured everyone that he’d be stepping into the ring regardless so they were accepting of the situation. But big fights getting postponed is not uncommon. It happened with Fury vs Usyk, for example. The fact that it’s not going to happen at all now just doesn’t quite sit right.

Joseph Parker’s Next Move

Okay then, so what’s next for Joe? One benefit of this outcome is that he’s been able to keep his WBO interim title. He was going to have to forego that if he beat Dubois because the organisations don’t like to share but since there was no clash in the end, he remains the mandatory challenger for that belt if/when the organisation chooses to enforce it. As it happens, Bakole was the highest-ranked WBO challenger available so that worked out beautifully for the World Boxing Organisation. Meanwhile, Agit Kabayel’s win over Zhilei Zhang makes him the WBC interim champ while Kubrat Pulev is the WBA interim champ. The IBF doesn’t have one right now but it does have a different world champion in Daniel Dubois (the other belts are held by Oleksandr Usyk). A unification bout takes precedence over mandatories, though Parker probably does shape up as the most notable of the other challengers if Usyk is forced to pick.

There’s a spanner in these works because Usyk has also said that he only plans to fight two more times before retiring. Unlike Tyson Fury, when Usyk talks retirement people actually believe him. One of those fights is surely going to be against Dubois to reunify. Then one more defence for good measure. Usyk has already beaten Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury twice each so he’s got no reason to bother with them again. Could Joseph Parker get that farewell fight? It’s very possible. If not then he’s clearly positioned to benefit afterwards if those belts all become available when Usyk hangs up of the gloves.

From Parker’s perspective, he wants a world title shot and he wants it as soon as possible. But if that’s not an option then the other thing he’s always spoken about is avenging his losses. Problem for him is that Dillian Whyte and Joe Joyce, both of whom are far more vulnerable now than they were when JP fought them, are fighting each other in April so that takes them out of the immediate race. The other revenge bout would be against Anthony Joshua.

AJ is 7-4 since beating Joseph Parker in 2019. Parker is 12-2 in the same timeframe. Two of Joshua’s defeats were against Usyk. There was also the shock loss to Andy Ruiz which he promptly made up for in the rematch... then he was KO’d by Dubois in September 2024 and that was the last we saw of him. He usually likes a midyear fight during the English summer and the one that everyone’s wanted to see for years upon years is Anthony Joshua versus Tyson Fury. If they can coax Fury out of retirement then that’s the one. Reflections of Mayweather vs Pacquiao in that it’s happening several years too late but it would still be a gigantic event.

Should Tyson Fury be unmoved by that offer, you’d have to say that the next best option for Anthony Joshua would be a Joseph Parker rematch. Tyson could even do his brother-from-another-mother that favour in stepping aside to let it happen. Realistically, with the title shot being pushed down the line, that’s the best bout that Parker could possibly hope for right now.

On the other hand, if it turns out to be Usyk vs Dubois, AJ vs Fury, and Whyte vs Joyce... then Parker is going to get left in the rain without an umbrella. Agit Kabayel, perhaps? Lawrence Okolie had accepted the replacement bout until they picked Bakole instead so he’s an option. Something will turn up. At least if he’s forced into a less consequential fight then he should be able to do it soon and stay active. His first world title came to him in a very providential manner. It seems his second one is going to have to be a lot more hard-earned.

If you rate the yarns on TNC, please help us out on Patreon, Substack, or Buy Me A Coffee so we can keep enough food in our bellies to continue serving them up

Also helps to whack an ad, share the articles, and tell your mates about us