Bakole steps in to face Parker on short notice

Martin Bakole will replace the stricken Daniel Dubois this Saturday in Riyadh against Joseph Parker

The bad news: Daniel Dubois is officially out of his IBF heavyweight title defense against Joseph Parker, which was slated to serve as the co-feature for Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol this coming Saturday.

The good news: The Ring announced that Martin Bakole has agreed to step in at the eleventh hour.

Bakole (21-1, 16 KO) is no stranger to Riyadh Season, having brutalized undefeated Jared Anderson on last August’s Crawford vs Madrimov show in LA. He’d been ordered to face fellow African export Efe Ajagba in an IBF eliminator after Agit Kabayel elected to challenge Zhilei Zhang instead, but he’s elected to take the shorter and more dangerous route to the big time.

Credit is due to both him and Parker (35-3, 23 KO), who once again takes on one of the division’s most dangerous and least-pursued fighters. Really couldn’t ask for a better replacement.