RIYADH, Saudi Arabia: Joseph Parker came to Saudi Arabia to try to win the IBF heavyweight title from Daniel Dubois.
Instead, Parker has turned his attention to Congolese heavyweight Martin Bakole after Dubois withdrew from Saturday’s fight after falling ill.
A last-minute replacement, Bakole missed Friday’s weigh-in because he was still en route to Riyadh from Kinshasa in Congo.
“To Daniel Dubois, I hope he gets better soon,” Parker said after weighing in at 267 pounds (121 kilograms). “To Martin Bakole, thank you for taking this fight on short notice. I’m looking forward to being in a ring with him tomorrow and going to work.”
The traditional staredown turned playful when Dubois’ promoter, Frank Warren, filled the void before poking Parker’s midsection.
Warren told iFL TV that Dubois will incur “a massive loss” because of sunk costs in training camp. Dubois had been set for “an unbelievable purse.”
Bakole chronicled his journey Friday on Instagram. He took a flight from Kinshasa to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
“One more flight,” he wrote before the next leg to the Saudi capital, where he was expected to land well past midnight local time.
“I can’t wait,” he said in a video post before the first flight. “I think I will shock the world tomorrow. A boxer is like a soldier, anytime they ask you to go to war, always be ready.”
Even though there’s no shot at a world title Saturday, the Parker-Bakole winner would be in line to fight Oleksandr Usyk for the Ukrainian’s WBO belt. The WBO announced the winner would become the mandatory challenger.
Parker (35-3, 23 KOs) is a former WBO champion. The New Zealander won the belt in December 2016 when he beat Andy Ruiz and lost it to Anthony Joshua 15 months later.
Bakole (21-1, 16 KOs) weighed over 280 pounds (127 kgs) in his most recent fight when he stopped Jared Anderson in the fifth round last August in Los Angeles.
Dubois was hoping to win and then take on Usyk later this year. He made his first title defense last September with a brutal fifth-round knockout of Joshua in front of 96,000 fans at Wembley Stadium.
The London resident became the titleholder three months earlier when the IBF belt was vacated by Usyk.
Saturday’s main attraction is the rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. Beterbiev became the undisputed light-heavyweight world champion after a contentious points decision over Bivol in October.
