For a man who was bounced to a swift KO defeat by Joseph Parker, Martin Bakole has made it clear he is very keen to fight the New Zealander a second time. Bakole – who as we know took the fight with Parker on extremely short-notice, this back in February when Daniel Dubois fell ill with a virus and was unable to go through with his fight against Parker – says he has no regrets for doing what he did.
Speaking with The Ring, the Congolese giant said he did Turki Alalshikh a favour by stepping in to save the show against Parker, and that he will ask Alalshikh for a favour of his own after he beats Efe Ajagba at the weekend. Bakole says he will ask Alalshikh to make the Parker rematch.
“I have no regrets about the decision,” Bakole said regarding his taking on Parker with literally just 24 hours between him arriving in Saudi Arabia and getting in the ring. “It was a big favour to someone who has helped me and organised every fight I want, His Excellency. I owed this favour to him. He said regardless of the result against Parker, I would still be here to face Ajagba. I want to win this fight and then ask His Excellency to make that rematch please. With a full camp and the right preparation I know I would beat him.”
Bakole, beaten only by Martin Hunter and Parker, went on to say that while he doesn’t think Parker would be as keen to fight him again as he is to face Parker again, the fans would “love to see it.” In all honesty, there is nothing in a rematch for Parker, that aside from a big risk. Parker, patiently waiting for his shot at the WBO title currently held by Oleksandr Usyk, would be going over old ground in a return with Bakole. And as Bakole said, with a full camp on his part, things could be different.
Why would Parker risk his ranking and his shot at Usyk? That said, Usyk has just said that after his fight with Dubois is done he would like to fight either Anthony Joshua or Tyson Fury again. If that happened, where would it leave Parker? No doubt, in that situation, Parker, the WBO interim champ, would fight someone for the full WBO belt that would be stripped from Usyk; with Justis Huni being the current WBO #1 contender.
But all of this could be some time away. Let’s see if Bakole CAN beat Ajagba, and where both he and Parker go next. But theoretically, would you have an real interest in seeing Parker fight Bakole a second time?