Anthony Joshua has given his immediate reaction to Joseph Parker stopping Martin Bakole in two rounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Bakole valiantly stepped in on two days’ notice to save the card’s co-main event when IBF Heavyweight World Champion Daniel Dubois took unwell.
Despite the lack of proper training camp, many in the sport backed Bakole to spring the upset due to his heavy hands. Parker was unfazed by the addition of a different big puncher in the opposite corner, and he was willing to trade with Bakole to prove it.
That paid off in round two when he landed an overhand right that shook Bakole and saw him stumble and fall off balance. Trainer Billy Nelson was quick to throw in the towel, seeing his man hurt and perhaps aware that the last minute travel had taken its toll.
Speaking on the DAZN broadcast, Joshua – who beat Parker to unify the heavyweight belts back in 2018 – had nothing but praise for his former rival and used his performance as an example as to how fortunes can turn.
“I don’t just look at the fights that Parker’s had recently. The journey of Joseph Parker is one to be studied. How he’s risen to the top of the game, a slight setback – and in boxing you know how detrimental that is – and it takes a real man, a real man of courage and discipline, to come back and compete for the championship once again.
“He rose to the occasion. Credit to him and his team because he’s done an amazing job tonight.”
Parker said post-fight that he will fight anyone, and nobody will dare question that after beating three of the division’s biggest punchers in Deontay Wilder, Zhilei Zhang and Bakole on the bounce.
