Parker-Bakole is ON!!!

Like Turki can't get him on a plane today?

 

Parker will stink the place out when he sees Bakole is unfit and unable to move. He’ll treat the fight like Zhang 2.0

 

I do feel for Parker here. Instead of a title shot, he's fighting the boogeyman. I wonder if he was offered a larger purse to do this. You'd think most men wouldn't take a risk when they could just reschedule the title shot -- and it's a HW title shot, not exactly difficult to build an event around.

 

The Kiwis were desperate to get an ill Dubois in there because they know they were just hoping rather than truly believing Parker would win beforehand.

 

48 hours is not ideal for recovering from jet lag. Apparently he is in Congo.

 

Honestly, for me on 2 days notice Parker is a strong favourite... On full camps, I think Parker is even more likely to win - a cruder and more direct fighter is always going to be less effected by short camps than a more measured and tactically prepared fighter and in this case, Bakole is easily the cruder of the two.

 

Bakole as the underdog? Zhang too? Sheesh lfg epic card

 

Boogey man on 2 day notice lol

 

If he's in Congo, that's only two time zones (so, 2 hours) apart from Saudi. No jet lag.

 

I'm not so sure about that. There is physicality that Bakole has that could be a huge issue for Parker.

 

thought the Parker weight gain was dumb for the Dubois fight but I think it suits him better vs bakole

 

My first reaction to the news of Dubois bowing out was "Fuuuuuuuuu...!!"

But when I saw Bakole stepping in, I was relieved that we'll still see something good. Bakole's always worth watching, and mega-props to him for having the guts to take this on such short notice (and, for that matter, for Parker to say yes to fighting a dangerous guy he didn't specifically train for).

And mega-mega-props to the Riyadh Season folks for salvaging a major bout on such short notice; only they could do it....

 

I like Parker but my money is on Bakole

 

Anderson was is far quicker than Parker and Dubois and he got walked down by Bakole. I agree that he is slow footed but he still caught up to Anderson. With that said, Parker is clearly a superior all around fighter than Anderson.

 

It's not nothing.