MARTIN BAKOLE: THE “WHO NEEDS HIM?” CLUB
it because he’d blinded himself with his right-hand glove,” said Nelson during a telephone interview later that day. “It was nice to see all that hard work have such an effect.” However, despite all the plaudits Bakole has received, this career-best win over Anderson has become something of a hindrance. On a card that featured pound-for-pound great Terence Crawford winning a fourth divisional title, it was Bakole who sent shockwaves through the sport with a devastating display of power and accuracy. Suddenly, the phone stopped ringing and, much in line with the Scottish weather, Bakole was out in the cold. Despite lofty top 5 ratings with all four sanctioning organizations, a matchup against one of the division elites was not forthcoming, and the wait continues. One can only surmise that no one wants to make the same mistake Anderson did. The risk is not worth the reward. “People are suddenly saying Jared Anderson is a bum, but listen, he’s an extremely good fighter,” stressed Nelson. “To say otherwise is demeaning to Martin’s performance. “Jared Anderson will go on to win a world title irrespective of this defeat. He’s 25 years old, which is a baby in the heavyweight division. If they get him a good fight – somebody like Filip Hrgovic or Fabio Wardley – he’ll beat Wardley hands down.” Bakole expects to beat Ajagba hands down in his next fight. However, before agreeing to that bout, the hard-hitting Congolese had called for a fight against British superstar Anthony Joshua. Unfortunately, those requests were ignored, with “AJ” understandably opting for a chance to become a three- time heavyweight champion. In September, just before his stunning fifth-round knockout loss to IBF titleholder Daniel Dubois, I conducted a one-on-one interview with Joshua in London for The Sporting News. I asked “AJ” if a fight on the African continent remained a realistic proposition, given his Nigerian heritage, and he replied, “Maybe if I fight Martin Bakole.”
NELSON’S COLUMN Bakole’s longtime trainer-manager, Billy Nelson, explains why his fighter is making the other members of boxing’s glamor division look in a different direction: “The first time I saw Martin Bakole, I knew he was a bit special. The first spar he did in my old gym was with (former Commonwealth bronze medalist and professional cruiserweight) Stephen Simmons. After the first round, Simmons came back to me and said, ‘He’s exceptional. He’ll win a world title.’ That was after the first round! Simmons couldn’t hit him with a bag of rice. “The first time I saw Martin Bakole, I knew he was a bit special. The first spar he did in my old gym was with (former Commonwealth bronze medalist and professional cruiserweight) Stephen Simmons. After the first round, Simmons came back to me and said, ‘He’s exceptional. He’ll win a world title.’ That was after the first round! Simmons couldn’t hit him with a bag of rice. “Martin had no footwork [before working with me]. He had fast hands and good IQ, but his footwork was atrocious. He didn’t know how to cut a ring off, but he does now. His balance wasn’t great, but it is now. His movement was always good, as in head and waist movement. “We’ve not seen the best of Martin yet. I’ve seen some stuff from him in the gym that is just jaw-dropping. His ring generalship is second to none. “He’ll win the world title, and I can see him unifying, but we need to be given the chance. We’re not getting the chance because the promoters know. I’ve got all the respect in the world for Frank [Warren], but he knows what happened to Daniel Dubois [in sparring]. He just can’t come out and say it. And Eddie [Hearn] would look very foolish after having signed Martin and not giving him another contract because we left 258 (Management). “He’ll win the world title, and I can see him unifying, but we need to be given the chance. We’re not getting the chance because the promoters know. I’ve got all the respect in the world for Frank [Warren], but he knows what happened to Daniel Dubois [in sparring]. He just can’t come out and say it. And Eddie [Hearn] would look very foolish after having signed Martin and not giving him another contract because we left 258 [Management]. “I just want Martin to put on another scintillating performance against Efe Ajagba. I want people in prominent positions in the sport to give the man his opportunity. He thoroughly deserves it now. It’s not his fault that Zhilei Zhang and Agit Kabayel decided to do their own thing (Zhang declined to face Bakole in an IBF final eliminator, opting instead to take on Kabayel on February 22). Fair play to them, and they’ll earn a lot of money. We don’t care about the money side of it; we just want the opportunity. I was asked the other day if the Dubois-Parker winner fights Usyk, would we fight Zhang or Kabayel? Well, of course we would. We were willing to fight them in an IBF final eliminator. If Martin beat Zhang or Kabayel, we’d be in a position where he’d be interim champion with the WBC, mandatory challenger with the IBF, number two with the WBA and still not have a world title fight. “I just want Martin to put on another scintillating performance against Efe Ajagba. I want people in prominent positions in the sport to give the man his opportunity. He thoroughly deserves it now. It’s not his fault that Zhilei Zhang and Agit Kabayel decided to do their own thing (Zhang declined to face Bakole in an IBF final eliminator, opting instead to take on Kabayel on February 22). Fair play to them, and they’ll earn a lot of money. We don’t care about the money side of it; we just want the opportunity. “I was asked the other day if the Dubois-Parker winner fights Usyk, would we fight Zhang or Kabayel? Well, of course we would. We were willing to fight them in an IBF final eliminator. If Martin beat Zhang or Kabayel, we’d be in a position where he’d be interim champion with the WBC, mandatory challenger with the IBF, number two with the WBA and still not have a world title fight.” NELSON’S CORNER Bakole’s longtime trainer-manager, Billy Nelson, explains why his fighter is making the other members of boxing’s glamor division look in a different direction: “Martin had no footwork [before working with me]. He had fast hands and good IQ, but his footwork was atrocious. He didn’t know how to cut a ring off, but he does now. His balance wasn’t great, but it is now. His movement was always good, as in head and waist movement. “We’ve not seen the best of Martin yet. I’ve seen some stuff from him in the gym that is just jaw-dropping. His ring generalship is second to none.
light conversation before a 6-foot-6, 280-pound colossus enters the building. It's Martin Bakole – The Ring’s No. 6-rated heavyweight. In Scotland, heavyweights don’t grow on trees. Bakole, 33, hails from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and moved here to train with venerable boxing coach Billy Nelson seven years ago. Despite the climate being decidedly different from back home, Bakole has applied enough heat in the division to accumulate a 21-1 (16 KOs) record. His only setback was a 10th-round stoppage defeat to American Michael Hunter when his performance was badly hampered by an injury to his right shoulder. That was all the way back in October 2018. Nelson, who took Scotsman Ricky Burns to two of three divisional world titles over a decade ago, is not present at the gym on this day. Bakole is in early training for May’s IBF final eliminator against Nigerian export Efe Ajagba, who
The Ring after his workout. “He’s young and I’ve watched him before, especially with [Charles] Martin, who he beat on points. I knew after five or six rounds that he’d be knocked out. It wasn’t going 10 rounds. “I took it easy and was preparing for the uppercut – that was the best punch. I can stop anybody with that punch. If you watch George Foreman, he was the best with the uppercut. I learned a lot from that. In the first round [with Anderson], you’ll see I don’t throw the uppercut a lot, because I know he’s keeping his distance. When I close my distance, you’ll get it because you don’t see it.” The game plan for disposing of Anderson via uppercut was constructed over several weeks. The element of surprise was accentuated by a fatal flaw when Anderson dropped his right hand while in the orthodox stance in Round 5. “The left uppercut, the second knockdown, Jared Anderson didn’t see
Bakole brutally KO'd Jared Anderson in his U.S. debut.
is rated No. 10 by The Ring. After shaking out and using a variety of resistance bands, Bakole does a little shadowboxing before being put through arduous stretching routines that take him well beyond the limit of discomfort. He uses an ab roller and then selects the largest heavy bag in the gym to sharpen the tools of his trade. As the rounds go by, Bakole increases the power of his punches. Standing 20 feet away, I could feel the vibration of the shots traveling from the soles of my feet to my knees and soon realized why previously unbeaten American Jared Anderson succumbed to a pulverizing five-round beatdown in Los Angeles last August. “When I dropped Anderson in the first round, I didn’t rush,” Bakole told
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