Eddie Hearn has had his say on the l ast-minute heavyweight contest between Joseph Parker and Martin Bakole. For many months, New Zealander Parker has been in camp training for a fight with IBF world champion Daniel Dubois. However, around 48 hours before the first bell news emerged that the champion had taken ill and was pulled out of the fight.

In a stunning turn of events just two days out from a modern-great fight card for boxing, Daniel Dubois fell ill and is out of his big heavyweight clash against Joseph Parker. Dubois is the second fighter this week to have been cost a place on the mega-card due to illness,

Promoter Eddie Hearn has claimed that Joseph Parker vs Martin Bakole could be a better fight than the orignal scheduled clash with IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois. Dubois was forced to withdraw from his scheduled world title defence on Thursday after coming down with an illness.

Bakole (21-1, 16 KOs), a 6-foot-6 slugger from The Republic of Congo, accepted Thursday's offer on just two days' notice and immediately boarded an airplane to replace Dubois in the co-main event against former champion Joseph Parker (35-3,

Daniel Dubois has withdrawn from his heavyweight title fight against Joseph Parker with an unknown illness, promoter Ben Shalom has said, with Martin Bakole stepping in as his replacement.

Daniel Dubois has withdrawn from his IBF heavyweight world title defence against Joseph Parker due to illness, with Martin Bakole stepping in as a last-minute replacement for Saturday's fight in Saudi Arabia.