Martin Bakole has declared himself ready to “shock the world” when he fights Joseph Parker.
On Thursday the IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois dramatically withdrew from his title defence against Parker on Saturday on the undercard of Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol II, and Bakole, 31, similarly dramatically accepted a late offer to replace him in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in a non-title contest.
Bakole transformed his career in August when stopping the previously undefeated Jared Anderson.
Before agreeing to fight Parker he had been on course to fight Efe Ajagba of Nigeria in May, but for all of the risk involved in accepting a fight at such late notice against a respected former champion who has had a full training camp he is willingly travelling to Riyadh.
Speaking in a video posted on social media on Friday while he was waiting for his flight, he said: “I am ready to fly to Saudi Arabia for the fight tomorrow. Don’t care. We are ready to go.
“We got a phone call yesterday; we got proposed for the fight. I said, ‘I miss Saudi’, but I’m on a mission, so I am going to Saudi Arabia to fight. Going there to fight a best man – a man who was in camp for four or five months.
“I would like to say thank you, Excellency [Turki Alalshikh]. This means a lot to me, for choosing me, to replace Daniel Dubois. Big cards; big platform. I’m so grateful. Big thank you to my team, and [promoter, Boxxer’s] Ben Shalom. I can’t wait. This is unbelievable. It looks like I’m dreaming, but I’m not dreaming.
“I think I will shock the world tomorrow. I’m a boxer. A boxer is like a solider. Anytime they ask you to go to war, always be ready. So I’m ready to go. No matter what it is. I have not started my camp yet, but we’re ready to go. We are ready to go.
“See you, Saudi Arabia. Martin is coming. The Boogie Man.”
Bakole is typically based in Scotland, and trained by Billy Nelson. New Zealand’s Parker, 33, is trained by Andy Lee.
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