Joseph Parker puts his Riyadh revival on the line against heavyweight bogeyman Martin Bakole

The National

21-02-2025

If one singular fight could illustrate how Saudi Arabia has transformed boxing, it takes place at Kingdom Arena on Saturday night – and it's not the main event. That headline bout – a rematch between Russian rivals Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol for light-heavyweight supremacy – might not have taken place at all, let alone twice in just four months, without the lubricant of Saudi cash. But directly beneath the Russian maestros on the bill sits a clash between two of the most in-form heavyweights in the sport – two fighters who have taken full advantage of the opportunities presented by Riyadh Season. Unified champion Oleksandr Usyk operates in a class of his own having sent Tyson Fury, the generation's other elite big man, into at least a temporary retirement. But the Ukrainian's next challenger is likely to come from Saturday's salvaged co-main between Joseph Parker and Martin Bakole. It's a scenario few could have envisaged at the advent of the Saudi boxing project. Parker had been due to face Daniel Dubois but the IBF champion has fallen sick. Instead, he faces the division's bogeyman, the avoided Congolese Bakole, who has taken the fight at two days' notice. If anything confirms that times have changed in heavyweight boxing then it's the making of Parker versus Bakole in the space of a few frantic hours on Thursday night. In this climate, the best fight the best and money talks. Dubois is unavailable? Next man up. Bring in Bakole. The show goes on. Parker is 3-0 in Riyadh, while Bakole is 2-0 on Saudi-backed cards. Saturday's winner could challenge Usyk for the keys to the kingdom. Parker's resurgence has been both popular and hard earned after a 2022 defeat to slow-motion slugger Joe Joyce left him out in the cold. 'Truthfully, I always believed I had the ability to do well in boxing again, but when you have a few defeats and things are not going your way, you start asking yourself questions,' Parker said this week. 'I never had any doubt and I never wanted to give up ever, but I knew I had to make a change and I guess making the change that I've had now has been very, very nice.' Parker (35-3, 23ko) won a version of the title at just 24 with an underappreciated victory over Andy Ruiz. He was paid well but then relieved of the strap after an underwhelming effort against Anthony Joshua in 2018, and another loss to Dillian Whyte left him jobbing on undercards. A pair of wins over Derek Chisora reinvigorated a career that was immediately derailed once again by defeat to Joyce. Andy Lee, a former middleweight titlist and devotee of Emanuel Steward's Kronk Gym in Detroit, was in his corner by then, and despite the setback, the partnership endured. As Lee has blossomed as a trainer, Parker has matured as a heavyweight. 'I think it was a great start with Andy and it was great in the beginning, relearning the basics,' Parker explained. 'As a fighter, when you've been in the game for a while and you start learning new things, sometimes, you go away from the basics. I think it [also] was important to gain that friendship. 'You can only learn from each other if you become very close and even though we are friends outside the ring and we like to hang out and chill … When it's time to train and when it's time to put in work it's very different.' The 33-year-old wasn't meant to beat Zhilei Zhang or Deontay Wilder, but did so through skill, technique, discipline and Lee's razor-sharp game plans. He will need all of that and more against Bakole (21-1, 16ko), who has a well-earned reputation as an avoided fighter and was described on Thursday by Parker as a 'beast'. Bakole, 31, the younger brother of former cruiserweight champion Ilunga Makabu, was born in Kananga, DR Congo, but has become an adopted Scotsman while training with Billy Graham in Greengairs, a small village on the outskirts of Airdrie. The chances are that Parker and Bakole have sparred rounds, with Bakole's fearsome reputation forged in UK gyms while going rounds with Fury, Joshua and Dubois, who Bakole claims he knocked out during a session. A solitary defeat to the American Michael Hunter in 2018 led to claims of him being exposed, but he has won 10 on the spin since then. With the backing of Riyadh Season he was given the opportunity to face top prospect Jared Anderson in Los Angeles last August. Bakole decimated him in five rounds. His promoter Ben Shalom said it is unlikely Bakole will be at anything more than 50 per cent on fight night but that will still be enough to get the job done. 'He was in the Congo, he's on his way,' said Shalom. 'If you're ever going to have a chance at beating Martin Bakole it's on two days' notice, but I still think he's the favourite in the fight. 'I think a 50 per cent Martin Bakole beats most heavyweights. Fair play to Joseph Parker as well for taking Martin Bakole. 'Everyone knew we were going to put our name in the hat, we were pushing for it. We don't talk [rubbish] when we say we will fight anyone, we will fight anyone. To do it on two days' notice is crazy.' In the main event, Bivol will try to level the score and tee up a trilogy bout against Beterbiev after a narrow loss in their first fight last October. The 40-year-old Beterbiev had posted 20 successive knockout victories but edged past Bivol via majority decision with cards of 116-112 and 115-113 in his favour and the other a 114-114 draw. Bivol, 33, started fast and boxed beautifully before the relentless Beterbiev closed the show, sweeping the later rounds. Still, many thought Bivol had done enough, and he won praise for his performance – praise that he flatly rejects. 'Of course I wasn't happy with my performance,' Bivol told Ring Magazine. 'I know I could be better. I grade it maybe a six out of 10. I have thoughts on where I can be better and where I wasn't. I know why, what happened, and the reason. Now it's interesting for me – could I use all of this knowledge and be better this time? 'I don't think about 'I won or I lost the fight'. I look at the moments that were good and bad. I have to create many more good moments in the rematch. That's it. 'We are ready for Artur to [start strong] from the beginning,' he added. 'This is one of the things that we have thought about. We won't know until the fight. I prepared in camp that he will be faster, hit harder, and push more.' At 40, Beterbiev is in the final chapter of his career and last October was a little short of his ferocious best. Was it age, the fact he was coming off knee surgery, Bivol's performance, or all three? 'They can say anything. I don't care about it,' Beterbiev said about criticism of his performance and the scoring. 'My challenge is to do better than last time. We needed to learn. We had some mistakes, we needed to correct them. Of course, we learn. We will see, it's coming in a short time, we will see. 'You see something different, why I did this, why I did not do this. Automatically you want to change something.' The Mexican-American David Benavidez plans to call out the winner in Riyadh, while Turki Alalshikh, the man steering Saudi prizefighting, has touted a move to cruiserweight for Beterbiev and a fight against champion Jai Opetaia. 'I don't know. So far everything's going well. I feel good. My health is good. I want to continue,' Beterbiev said when asked about the future, adding that he will stop only when his mother asks him to. 'Like any mother, any mother worries about their child. Yes, my mother worries but she supports me. She gave me approval,' he said.