Joseph Parker was over the moon to hear that he will be fighting Martin Bakole this Saturday.
The Congolese puncher steps in on two days’ notice to replace Daniel Dubois after the British heavyweight was withdrawn from his IBF title defence against Parker due to illness.
iFL TVParker seems to be really excited about the prospect of boxing Bakole[/caption]
It is understood that Lawrence Okolie, David Adeleye, Mourad Aliev and Bakole were all offered to the Kiwi.
He accepted all of them without hesitation and found out who he was fighting from his manager Spencer Brown just before he made his way back to his hotel room after the final press conference on Thursday.
iFL TV was interviewing Brown when the news was made official and they caught Parker’s priceless immediate reaction on camera.
“Joe come here it has just been announced that you are fighting Martin Bakole,” said Brown.
Parker’s eyes lit up as he shouted: “Oh! Let’s go! Are we? Sweet as.”
Brown then added: “We are not scared are we, Joe? I got some calls when I was over at the press conference.
“We got some calls and there were three people mentioned, Joe never turned anyone down. All comers were welcomed.”
Asked whether he was disappointed about the Dubois fight collapsing, Parker responded: “Listen, it is all part of boxing and part of the journey.
“But I guess when one opportunity goes away another one comes.
“We are fighting Martin Bakole who has been waiting for a big fight.
“Hopefully we can revisit this fight [with Dubois] down the line because I want to be champion of the world.
“Bakole is the most avoided heavyweight but I love to challenge myself.
“Myself, Andy [Lee] and Spencer we sat down with Turki [Alalshikh] and we welcomed anybody and we got Martin Bakole which is great.”
Boxing fans love Parker’s no-nonsense approach to fighting and flooded to social media to applaud him for the way in which he has taken the change of opponent in his stride.
One supporter wrote: “Massive massive respect for this guy. That is a real fighter there.”
Another tweeted: “I love big Joe. Doesn’t care who he faces. Dangerous fight for him but he looks buzzing. Proper old school throwback fighter.”
GETTYDubois and Parker[/caption]
A third posted: “Parker is a credit to boxing. Always conducted himself well unlike many other boxers.”
A fourth commented: “Parker is as game as they come.”
Meanwhile, another added: “Proper fighting man Parker. Anyone, anytime as long as he puts the work in himself he’s confident in his ability, got to respect that.”
Parker is now set to defend his WBO ‘interim’ title against Bakole, which he was due to be stripped of when the opening bell sounded for his IBF title fight.
Both Bakole and Parker enter Saturday night’s heavyweight showdown in red-hot form.
Parker is riding an impressive five-fight winning streaking including notable victories over Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang while Bakole has won his last ten and stopped the highly-touted Jared Anderson last time out.
