Joseph Parker vs Martin Bakole Preview & Picks
Joseph Parker is tipped to retain his interim heavyweight title by decision.
Parker needs to avoid an early blitz from late stand-in Martin Bakole, and once he has successfully done that he will take over and break his challenger down.
- Joseph Parker is on a 5-fight win streak
- Joseph Parker is 2-0 by KO in his last 2 fights as a betting favourite
- Martin Bakole has been knocked out in his career
- Martin Bakole has gone the distance just 5 times in 21 fights
Joseph Parker Form
Joseph Parker is the interim WBO world heavyweight champion with a professional record of 35-3 (23 KOs).
Parker debuted in July 2012 and in December 2016 made history when he became the first New Zealander to win a world heavyweight title.
He beat Andy Ruiz Jr by majority decision to win the WBO belt, and made two successful defences as he beat Razvan Cojanu and Hughie Fury on points.
That set up a big fight with Anthony Joshua to unify the WBO title with the WBA (Super), IBF and IBO crowns, but Parker failed to leave with all of the belts as he dropped a decision to AJ.
Parker then suffered a points loss to Dillian Whyte, but got his career back on track between December 2018 and December 2021 as he reeled off six consecutive victories.
That run was ended by an 11th round knockout loss to Joe Joyce in September 2022, but he once again rebounded, sparking a five-game streak with a points win over Jack Massey.
He then knocked out Faiga Opelu and Simon Kean, before earning points victories over Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang.
Martin Bakole Form
Martin Bakole is a Congolese heavyweight fighter with a professional record of 21-1 (16 KOs).
Bakole made his professional debut in March 2014 and reeled off 11 straight victories to start his career.
That run was halted by a 10th round knockout loss to Michael Hunter in October 2018, but he has not tasted defeat since then, reeling off 10 consecutive wins.
He started the streak with four straight TKO successes, stopping Mariusz Wach in the eighth, Ytalo Perea in the first, Kevin Johnson in the fifth and Rodney Hernandez in the second.
The 31-year-old then out-pointed Sergey Kuzmin over 10 rounds, before taking less than three minutes to knock out Haruna Osumanu.
Bakole edged Tony Yoka by majority decision in his only fight of 2022, before recording back-to-back TKO wins in 2023, stopping Ihor Shevadzutskyi in three and Carlos Takam in four.
He then took his current streak to 10 fights last August, as he knocked out Jared Anderson in the fifth round.