If there is one thing everyone in boxing knows, it is this: Joseph Parker is about the nicest bloke going around in the sport. So nice, in fact, that when Daniel Dubois withdrew late from his bout with Parker in Riyadh yesterday, Parker was still willing to take a fight with Martin Bakole, an eleventh hour Congolese replacement who landed in Saudi Arabia at 3am on the morning of the fight.
It's easy to look at the circumstances of this hasty after-hours arrangement and conclude Parker had nothing to fear, but that would be doing a disservice to the fighter and the sport. Parker had trained for months for the chance to the take the IBF world title from Dubois. He had trained for his punches, his movements, his weaknesses, and nuances. To agree 48 hours before his date with Dubois to be pitted against a fighter he had never scouted, let alone planned for, in a match that gave him very little, if any, upside shows just how much Parker is prepared to give to get his shot at a title.
If you think Parker had little to fear in agreeing to the substitute bout, you may want to consider how much he had to lose. Heavyweight boxing history is littered with upsets and sucker punches. Bakole is known as one of the most powerful hitters in the division. Had he landed one, at the right time, and in the right place, Parker’s quest for another world title shot would have been in ruins in Riyadh. As it was, Parker bashed him with an overhand right and sent him to the canvas in the second. There would have been more relief in that victory than joy.
And still he waits.
As 1News senior sports reporter Patrick McKendry pointed out, "Cynics will suggest that Dubois, the IBF world heavyweight champion who looked sharp inside the ring during his public appearances in Riyadh but a little withdrawn out of it, did not like what he saw in a bulked-up and supremely confident Parker, who tipped the scales at a career-heaviest 121kg and finished off Bakole inside two rounds".
"And the same goes for Dubois’ promoter Frank Warren, who is always going to have eyes on a rematch for his fighter against Oleksandr Usyk, the WBC, WBO and IBO undefeated world heavyweight champion."
The implication here is simple: Dubois and his entourage had no desire to risk the IBF belt on the Parker fight when the big dollars await in a unification bout with Oleksandr Usyk. It is absolutely plausible. Boxing promoters know their paydays are pay-per-view, and the New Zealand and Samoan markets are – compared to those of Europe and America – infinitesimal. Parker is respected in the boxing world, but even if every casual Kiwi fan parted with their cash to watch a title fight, the marketers would have a tough time lining the pockets.
This has always been an issue for Parker, and the events of the last 72 hours illustrate just how hard he has had to work to keep his seat at boxing’s top table, even while knowing he and his team are at the kitchen end of that table and can’t quite hear what the rest of the party are discussing. Parker’s efforts in Riyadh – not just against Bakole, but in his last four fights – should by rights give him top billing in any title fight conversation. That Dubois can side step Parker, keep the belt he had promised to put on the line, and now automatically waltz into a unification belt has more to do with market size than heart size.
Joseph Parker made it clear he was ready for a title shot after the Bakole beat-down. Most boxing pundits would agree. Boxing’s match makers are the ones looking at New Zealand, and wondering how they would ever make enough out of us.
Victory for the ages in Dunedin shows Highlanders are back
A touching tribute to the late Connor Garden-Bachop before the Highlanders-Blues showdown under the roof certainly set the tone for one of the more remarkable Highlanders wins on Saturday night. Garden-Bachop’s memory was honoured with a "moment of noise", after which both captains presented the former Highlander’s brother, Toby, with jerseys, and the home side performed a rousing haka.
It was no surprise that the Highlanders were the slower of the two teams in the early exchanges – a lot of emotional energy had been poured into memorialising their late friend – but this was a stay-on-the-heels southern dog attack at its very best, led by whippets Finn Hurley and Sam Gilbert, and overseen by a pack that refused to be bossed around.
If the Blues thought they were going to get over their first-round defeat to the Chiefs by dining on fillet steak at Forsyth Barr, they were instead subjected to a choke-a-thon on the gristle and sinew of a Highlanders side that has been run ragged in the pre-season. For the second straight week the Blues seemed to evaporate as a force in the second half, even as the Highlanders were reduced to 13 men after Daniel Leinert-Brown’s yellow was upgraded to red.
Two tough as teak coaches watched proceedings from their respective boxes. Jamie Joseph was laughing with five to play. Vern Cotter couldn’t believe what he was watching. The defending champions have some serious work to do to rediscover the form that took them all the way in 2024. Expect a change at playmaker for their next assignment.
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