Joseph Parker drops Martin Bakole in round 2 to retain WBO heavyweight title as short notice opponent blown away

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Joseph Parker stopped Martin Bakole in his tracks inside two rounds to retain his WBO interim heavyweight title.The big Kiwi had been schedule to fight Daniel Dubois in Riyadh.

But the Londoner was forced to withdraw from the bout thought illness on Thursday, leaving organisers scrambling to find an opponent.

And in the end it was Bakole who answered the call, who hopped on a flight snd only arrived in Saudi at 3 o'clock on Saturday morning without even a sparring session under his belt.The Congolese fighter, who relocated to Greengairs in 2016, has proved a dangerous opponent for other more fancied heavyweights in the past with his walk forward and throwing bombs style.

And he looked like he was going to make things tough for Parker in the short-time he was in the ring. But a right hand to the top of the head robbed Bakole of his balance and he het the canvas hard, with coach Billy Nelson pulling his man out after he got back to his feet but clearly couldn't continue.Follow Record Sport on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for all of the up-to-the minute breaking news, video and audio on the SPFL, the Scotland national team and beyond.You can also follow our dedicated Rangers and Celtic podcast pages and sign up to our newsletters to make sure you never miss a beat throughout the season.