Martin Bakole broke American hearts when he crushed Jared Anderson in five rounds on August 3. The Congolese heavyweight finally got his chance to fight a highly ranked opponent and he put in a great performance.
The spectacle not only caught the attention of the rest of the division, but also made fans question whether all the stories about sparring involving Oleksandr Usyk, Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois were true.
Professional boxing is full of smoke and mirrors. It’s a sport driven by perception and opinion. Before the fight, Anderson was being touted as the next American heavyweight champion of the world — someone many thought was too talented for the relatively unknown Bakole.
During the grand arrival, Anderson danced to the music as if victory was certain. However, on fight night, it didn’t take Bakole long to knock him down in the first round, giving him a rude awakening before knocking him down twice more in the fifth round to seal the knockout.
With three American judges scoring the fight, Bakole was unlikely to win on points in a close fight, but any concerns were dispelled when Anderson proved resistant to punches.
Bakole’s trainer, Billy Nelson, has been full of praise for his fighter over the past few years. Nelson’s media interviews have been the stuff of memes—amusing but not taken seriously. But given the brilliance Bakole has shown from the ring, he’ll likely have another huge fight this season in Riyadh. And Nelson’s comments may warrant a little less skepticism.
Frenchman Tony Yoka fights Congolese Martin Bakole in a 10-round heavyweight boxing fight at The AccorHotels Arena in Paris, France, May 14, 2022. (Photo: FRANCK FIFE / AFP) (Photo: FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images)
Still, Bakole doesn’t exactly have a high-profile win list. The 32-year-old suffered a tenth-round loss to Michael Hunter in 2018. The loss, in retrospect, slowed his career. Especially since Hunter drew with underdog Alexander Povetkin and Jerry Forrest – an opponent he defeated in just his fifth pro fight.
Bakole initially impressed by beating unbeaten Tony Yoka in France, until the former Olympian lost his next two fights. Meanwhile, a fourth-round knockout of Carlos Takam at the age of about 40 became a household name on his record, despite finishing the veteran faster than Joshua, Joseph Parker and Dereck Chisora.
No one knows the whole story, but Bakole’s recent win over Anderson and his struggle to get meaningful fights could be a sign of his uniqueness in the heavyweight division. The “who needs him” club is rampant in boxing, especially when you’re someone like Bakole, who, on the surface, has the potential to give any of the elite heavyweights a tough night, but lacks the chops to be considered worth the risk.
He’s a huge man, weighing in at over 275 pounds in his last five fights, and he has solid work rate, punch selection, strength, and a robust jaw. You probably don’t have to have a sparring session with Bakole to know that he’s not effortless to beat.
Bakole is ranked number one by the WBA and number six by the WBC. Therefore, if the powerful heavyweight is to get a shot at a world title, it could be against the winner of the Fury-Usyk rematch scheduled for December. A fight with either fighter would show where Bakole stands in the heavyweight landscape.
Regardless, with Turki Alalshikh pulling the strings and continuing to put out phenomenal boxing cards, Bakole’s days as an outsider may be coming to an end. In retrospect, it’s surprising that a 24-year-old prospect like Anderson would decide to share the ring with a monster like Bakole. But boxing is a business, and “The Real Large Baby” must have had quite a few financial incentives.
Three years ago, someone like Bakole would have struggled to get in. But with Turki, the stakes are astronomical, and that could be enough to tempt another highly ranked heavyweight to box Bakole. That includes those who have already appeared in Riyadh this season, such as Agit Kabayel, Zhilei Zhang and Joseph Parker, who are unlikely to fight for a title anytime soon but could make for huge fights on a huge card.
Overall, Bakole has yet to prove himself as one of the elite heavyweights. However, his win over Anderson could be the catalyst his career needed.
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