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Martin Bakole sees fear in Jared Anderson’s eyes ahead of heavyweight fight

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Image: Martin Bakole Sees Fear in Jared Anderson's Eyes Ahead of Heavyweight Fight

Martin Bakole said he saw fear in Jared Anderson’s eyes during their confrontation this week at a major event in Los Angeles ahead of their heavyweight fight on Saturday night, Aug. 3, at BMO Stadium.

(Photo credit: Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing)

Bakole (20-1, 15 KOs) saw the fear in the 24-year-old Anderson’s eyes and knew he couldn’t take it. The 6’6″ Bakole is anticipating an early fifth-round knockout against Anderson (17-0, 15 KOs) and can’t wait for it.

Martin says if he doesn’t knock Anderson out, he’ll punish and beat him up in their fight on DAZN PPV. There will be a lot of fans watching this fight and it will be a great way for Bakole to introduce himself to the American audience.

Anderson’s attempt to mask his fear

“I could see he was scared. He couldn’t take me on Saturday night. I could see he was scared,” Martin Bakole said to Title Sports Network asked what he saw in Jared Anderson’s eyes during their confrontation Tuesday at the Arrivals Gala in Los Angeles.

Anderson did a good job of masking his fear with laughter and clowning around while on stage with Bakole on Tuesday. It looked like Anderson was acting, trying to hide his anxiety because he knows he has a guy in front of him who could ruin his career on Saturday night.

If Anderson loses to Bakole, all the money he was hoping to make fighting Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk will disappear.

“His eyes say it all. I’m ready to take whatever he brings on Saturday,” Bakole continued of Anderson. “By knockout. If he has a substantial heart, he’ll survive, and I’ll punish him on points.”

Jared looked a little nervous when he was on stage with Bakole. It was as if he realized what he was facing after five years as a professional. Top Rank has matched Anderson with less competition and is clearly hesitant to put him with someone who could destroy his development.

Some fans believe that Turki Alalshikh chose Martin Bakole as Jared’s opponent on this card. If it was up to Top Rank, he would probably continue to fight guys like Jerry Forrest, Andriy Rudenko and Jeremiah Karpency.

“I think early. Before four or five. I’ve been training difficult in the gym and I’m ready. This fight means a lot to me because I have to sell myself in America,” Bakole said.

If Bakole knocks out Anderson in this fight, it would be a huge blow to Top Rank, as they have put a lot of work into protecting him all these years, shielding him from the tough life of competing against the best fighters in the top division.

However, promoters can only protect their fighters for so long before they have to go into the general population and see how long they can handle it. Ideally, Top Rank would have tested Anderson years ago to see if he was worth keeping, as they could have saved themselves the trouble of isolating him.

“In the UK, everyone knows Martin Bakole, but now, in America, I want to have American fans because it’s a substantial boxing world. I call everyone. They always avoid me, but I’m ready for anyone,” Bakole said.

UK fans aren’t as familiar with Bakole as he hasn’t fought anyone talented and after Saturday’s match we still may not know much about him. Anderson isn’t good enough to know if Bakole has talent.

Jared Anderson: Hype job?

“Jared Anderson, everyone talks about him and raves about him. Top Rank has done a good job building him up, putting him in the ring with guys he can beat,” Teddy Atlas said on his YouTube channel. “He hasn’t been tested.

Atlas doesn’t say who these people are who are “hyping” Jared Anderson because if he had his ears to the ground he would already know that fans see him as a hype job. After watching him fight Charles Martin and Ryad Merhye, fans learned everything they needed to know about Anderson.

“They haven’t put him in a fight with anyone who’s really risky, really competitive. I’m not saying he should be put in a fight with anyone who’s risky to the point where he loses, but instead of putting him in a fight with 90-10, 80-20, 70-30 odds, I think to develop a guy, you have to put him in a fight with 60-40 or 55-45 odds. They [Top Rank] I did not do that [for Jared Anderson]”- said Atlas.

Anderson’s protection by Top Rank

Surely Atlas should have understood why Top Rank didn’t match Jared Anderson with any live opponents. It’s pretty obvious. They saw that he was flawed and couldn’t take a punch.

You only have to watch Anderson get staggered twice by 38-year-old Charles Martin to see why Top Rank is reluctant to put him in a fight with anyone with even a modicum of talent. They know what happens when Anderson has a tough opponent, and they try to avoid that for as long as possible.

Top Rank is probably keeping Jared to either put him on the payroll against Anthony Joshua or Tyson Fury or wait for those guys to retire so he can pick up the broken titles. If that’s the case in this match, I don’t think it’ll work because Anderson won’t be able to win the belts if he has to face someone halfway decent.

“For some reason, Turki Alalshikh is really interested in Jared Anderson, to the point where he put him on this card and hired a modern trainer, SugarHill Steward. He made him train him. I don’t know what Jared Anderson has. There are others in the same category,” Atlas said.

SugarHill’s hiring may not aid Anderson unless he wants to learn how to outwork and out-reach opponents. That seems to be SugarHill’s main contribution to Tyson Fury since he took over as his trainer years ago.

SugarHill is no match for Anderson, who doesn’t like to get hit and has a Shakur-esque style of boxing and avoiding pain. In order for Anderson to transform under SugarHill’s tutelage, he has to go through a volcanic mind meld and be hypnotized into an aggressive, brutal fighter he’s not physically built to be.

Again, Jared’s chin is too delicate to employ SugarHill’s Kronk Gym style of fighting, and if he tries to fight that way, he’ll get knocked out multiple times. Look at Tyson Fury. He lost his last fight and should have been beaten in his last one to Francis Ngannou, and that was with SugarHill as his trainer. He completely ruined him.

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Boxing

Tyson’s conqueror, Danny Williams, was “never considered” for Morrison

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Kenzie Morrison Danny Williams

World Boxing News has learned that Danny Williams was never considered for a fight against Tommy Morrison’s son Kenzie on November 9.

WBN has learned from a source that Williams was scheduled to face Morrison next month when he returns to action at Firelake Arena in Shawnee. However, promoter Tony Holden confirmed what WBN initially reported, namely that Williams had been offered for the fight.

BoxRec also briefly placed Williams within Morrison’s record on November 9, before removing the former British champion. Williams famously knocked out Mike Tyson in 2004, but has since lived off his victory despite losing his British license more than a decade ago.

Holden, who represents Morrison and is looking for an opponent for the competition in three weeks, explained the situation exclusively to WBN.

“I never confirmed William’s story and I never considered him,” Holden said. “I said no when a local promoter suggested it.”

Williams, 51, last fought in August 202, losing for the 33rd time in his career. With 88 professional fights under his belt, Williams seems unable to turn down a payday despite his advanced age.

Morrison, a power puncher who has stopped 19 of his 21 wins, will look for his next conquest elsewhere. The fight with Mike Balogun remains on the table for 2025 after it was postponed from its original October date.

Balogun, who knocked out Kenzi’s brother Trey in the first round, claimed Morrison was pulled from the fight to spare him the loss.

Holden denies this view.

“Even though this post isn’t up to my standards, I’m going to write it anyway. Mike Balogun falsely claimed that I pulled Kenzie Morrison out of the fight because I was afraid he would lose. Please allow me to correct you, Mr. Balogun,” he stated.

“The decision was not made by Kenzie. Let’s raise the stakes and make it fascinating. If you emerge victorious this month, Kenzie will fight in November.

“We may decide this early next year. If your confidence remains unshaken, we can place a significant bet. Watch Kenzie take revenge on her brother and end your career.

Balogun, a former San Francisco 49ers linebacker, responded to Holden by increasing his salary for a potential collision next year.

“No matter how fair and honorable your decision was, just remember that ‘yesterday’s price is not today’s price,’” said the 2010 undrafted pick.

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Andrew Moloney is confident that if given the chance, he would have beaten Phumelele Cafu and Kosei Tanaka

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Andrew Moloney (left) attacks Pedro Guevara – photo: Mikey Williams/Top Rank

Few people were more disappointed than Andrew Moloney when Kosei Tanaka lost his WBO super flyweight belt to Phumelele Cafu at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan on Monday night.

The 33-year-old Australian veteran was hoping to get a shot at beating Tanaka in the lucrative Japanese market.

Those dreams were dashed when South Africa’s Cafu delivered the performance of his life, knocking out Tanaka in the fifth round and finishing the fight strongly, beating the four-weight world champion by split decision.

“The plan was to target the WBO and really chase the Tanaka fight, but it all fell apart on Monday night,” Moloney (26-4-1NC, 16 KO) told The Ring. “I think the WBO is probably still the direction we go, but I’m not sure if they have a rematch clause or if Tanaka will take it. But after watching the fight yesterday, I would be really confident that I could fight one of these guys and win. We would like to follow this path.

“I would love to fight Tanaka in Japan as a four-division world champion. He’s definitely someone I’ve looked up to and wanted to fight for a long time.

“Last night was a little hard to watch. The way he performed, I’m more confident than ever that I have what it takes to beat Tanaka.

I assume there will be a rematch and I hope that Tanaka will regain the belt and I will be able to return to the ring and climb the rankings, and maybe this fight will still happen.

Tanaka entered Moloney’s orbit four years ago when he debuted at 115 pounds. Earlier this year, it looked like they were also on a collision course, with Moloney being number one in the WBO rankings. However, when an offer was made for the vacant IBF lightweight title fight between Vasily Lomachenko and George Kambosos Jr. in May in Perth, Western Australia, Moloney felt he couldn’t turn her down.

This decision ended in disaster. Moloney faced Carlos Cuadras, who withdrew from the fight with a ruptured Achilles tendon and was replaced by Pedro Guevara. Moloney entered the fight with a torn bicep and was largely reduced to boxing with one hand, which circumscribed his punching power.

Still, Moloney felt he did more than enough to win, and was shocked when Guevara was declared the winner by split decision. He was so disappointed that he announced immediately after the fight that he was leaving the ring, but a few days later he withdrew these comments.

It was a breakthrough moment in his career.

“Looking back, it’s a wonderful thing, but watching the Tanaka-Cafu fight made me think that maybe I would do a lot of things if I could turn back time a little bit,” Moloney explained.

“Before my last fight, I was number one in the WBO rankings and I rejected the option of waiting to fight Tanaka. But the opportunity arose to fight Guevara in Australia for the interim WBC title on a major card, and to be candid, I kind of regretted that the Tanaka fight was hanging in the balance, but ultimately we decided to stay busy and take the opportunity to fight in Australia.

“Also, the injury before the fight was another thing I thought about: will I undergo surgery, keep the top spot and wait for Tanaka, but I made the decision to go ahead with the fight with Guevara. Looking back now, maybe it wasn’t the smartest thing to do. And looking at the way Tanaka fought last night, I thought maybe I should have waited. I’m sure I could beat Tanaka and take the belt away from him.

“So I take some consolation, but unfortunately you can’t turn back time.”

It’s been a frustrating year for Moloney, but he’s still hitting the gym and his team is working to get him another fight. The window of opportunity to box again this year is closing quickly, but he still hopes to return to the ring in December, most likely in his native Australia.

“I really hope so,” he said. “That’s what I’ve been working on. I have been training strenuous at the gym for some time, quite a few months. I hope to return before the end of the year.

“At this stage it will probably be December. I’m trying to block something, but so far no luck. I’m still training away as if the fight was to take place in December, the team is currently working on it and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we’ll be able to finish it.

“I just hope we can get out before the end of the year, get back into the winner’s circle and start climbing the rankings again.”

Moloney, who fought at bantamweight for the first three years of his professional career before dropping down to super flyweight, surprisingly, said he would even consider moving up to another weight class given the right opportunity.

“It’s a tough time in the super flyweight division,” said Moloney, the eighth challenger to The Ring’s 115-pound title. “There’s a lot going on and it’s always strenuous to plan which route to take because everything changes so quickly. I’d pick Bam Rodriguez to beat Guevara, then there’s talk of a rematch between Kazuto Ioka and Fernando Martinez on Up-to-date Year’s Eve. And then there’s talk of Bama, if they win, fighting the winner of that game in unification. The WBO seems to me the fastest way to win the title, so that’s the path we will follow.

“We have also rejected for some time the idea of ​​moving up to flyweight and getting crack there. There’s also some engaging scene going on there right now, but it’s still uncertain. I’d probably feel a little better at super flyweight, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens with Cafu and Tanaka, but like I said, I’d feel comfortable and confident against either of them, so hopefully he can make it it will happen sooner rather than later.”

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Doubts that fuel 19-year-old Benjamin Johnson

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Despite an impressive amateur resume, welterweight Benjamin Johnson of Springdale, Maryland, enters the professional ring with a shoulder injury.

Johnson will face Kevin Pantoja in a four-round fight at Rosecroft Raceway in Fort Washington, Maryland, promoted by his trainer Lamont Roach Snr’s NoXcuses Promotions. The fight will be broadcast on Saturday on ProBox TV.

Johnson, 1-0 (1 KO), spent just 2:23 in the ring in his professional debut, displaying the quick, aggressive hands that won him multiple national titles. However, 19-year-old Johnson feels an advantage, believing he is being overlooked by his NoXcuses Boxing Gym teammates.

Pantoja, 1-1, 27, has never stopped being a professional – Johnson aims to change that.

“People underestimate me,” Johnson said. “It’s been like that since I was an amateur.”

He added that this underestimation increases his motivation in the gym. Johnson is determined to prove his worth not only to himself, but also to those who doubt him or, worse, don’t recognize him. “I never felt like I was recognized as that guy, so I feel like I’m underappreciated,” Johnson said of his amateur and now professional career.

Johnson sees the fight as a key step in his career, compared to feared forward David Benavidez by some teammates and touted by others as one of the most ready-to-fight prospects in the country.

“I train as much as I can,” Johnson said. “It’s about making a statement. The way you win shows people what you’re capable of, and I’m ready to show my best.

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