Joseph Parker would not want your pity, not least because he expects to beat Martin Bakole on Saturday. But the reality is, the New Zealander has taken a massive, surely unnecessary risk on two day’s notice: a risk to his legacy, his future earnings, and his health.
Forty-eight hours before fight night, a night on which Parker was due to box for a world title for the first time in seven years, he found that the mechanism of his redemption lacked a crucial cog: a world champion to beat.
