BELFAST – Billy Nelson, manager, trainer, and outspoken advocate of Congolese heavyweight Martin Bakole is satisfied they made the right decision to take on Joseph Parker last weekend.
After IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois pulled out of the Parker fight with two days to go, Bakole was summoned but then dispatched by the in-form New Zealander in two rounds in Riyadh.
The outcome has cost Bakole the IBF final eliminator tag for his fight with Efe Ajagba, but Nelson insists that fight is still going ahead.
“That fight is happening,” Nelson told BoxingScene. “It might be an eliminator, it’s not a final eliminator. It may happen in Saudi on the Canelo undercard [in May]. He got caught by one punch, that’s not going to define his career. Wait and see the difference in 10 weeks, when we fight Efe Ajagba. He’ll be back to being the bogeyman, or whatever they want to call him. But what he will do is he’ll have a full camp for every fight he has from now on. It was a one off, a huge risk, never paid off. There’s high risk and low reward, that was high risk and a very high reward there.”
It was the high reward that led to the decision of Team Bakole, and it is one Nelson has no regrets over.
“Listen, ultimately it’s my boxer. I’m a manager as well. A boxer’s career is a short window, they’ve got to maximise their earning potential. Martin got life changing money. You see the money they’re mentioning? Far greater [than that]. He got exceptionally good money for that fight and it will do him and generations of his family, with guarantees that we’re still fighting Efe Ajagba in early May. It’s my job, Martin secured his family’s future. Would you not like to be in that position?”
Is Nelson fazed that the IBF stipulation will no longer be present?
“It’s right,” he admitted, of the sanctioning body’s decision. “Of course it’s right. Rules are rules, you’ve got to abide by them. But let’s not be a hypocrite with the words of a certain promoter… On Saturday morning it [Parker-Bakole] was s a great fight and great replacement. On Sunday morning it shouldn’t have happened. You can’t have it both ways.”
And while the two-rounds will be remembered for the huge Parker right that cannoned off the top of Bakole’s head to end matters, Parker’s coach Andy Lee admitted that the fight was shaping up to get tough.
“It was, Joe Parker got hit a couple of times with uppercuts and bodyshots,” added Nelson. “Joe’s nose was bleeding and he started blinking. Joe Parker knows how good Martin is. They’ve sparred. And Joe knows how hard it is against a fully fit Martin. But something that nobody has mentioned, on Saturday morning I got asked, ‘Can we have a rematch clause?’ So they weren’t that confident.”
Instead, Nelson remains unflinchingly certain in Bakole and a renewed run at heavyweight gold, starting off against Ajagba. Bakole has today started training in the Congo, and if he boxes in New York in May he will travel to the US six weeks ahead of time and if he fights in Saudi, he will be there four weeks out.
“100 per cent,” Nelson said, asked if he believed Bakole has plenty left. “Give us anybody. Anybody on 10 weeks’ notice no problem.”