Martin Bakole is the new opponent for Joseph Parker on February 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Congolese heavyweight took the fight on short notice, replacing Daniel Dubois. The pair square off in the co-feature to Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol 2. The bout is scheduled for 12 rounds.
Parker (35-3, 23 KOs) from New Zealand was looking to dethrone British IBF titleholder Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) and become a two-time champion. However, Dubois fell ill, missed Thursday’s press conference, and was pulled from the event.
Bakole (21-1, 16 KOs) is coming off a win by knockout in the fifth round against Jared Anderson last August. Parker defeated Zhilei Zhang by majority decision last March.
The withdrawal of Daniel Dubois is the second major change on the card. Another title fight suffered a blow earlier this week when Floyd Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs) was hospitalized and subsequently withdrawn.
The Austin-based contender was replaced by Englishman Josh Padley (15-0, 4 KOs) in a fight against WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) of Newark, NJ.
The main event is a rematch between Montreal, Quebec-based current undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) and former WBA champion Dmitry Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) from Kyrgyzstan.