Martin Bakole will have the chance of a lifetime to show Anthony Joshua up-close exactly what he’s made of.
AJ will be sat in the front row and have a better view than anyone in the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh as Bakole battles Joseph Parker for the WBO Interim Title on Saturday night. The Congolese-born fighter, who lived and trained in Airdrie, has covered over 3,800 miles on just two days to replace Daniel Dubois, who was ruled out with illness.
The 6’6” heavyweight will now have the chance to prove his worth to AJ and his promoter Eddie Hearn who are in the crowd for the ‘The Last Crescendo’. If victorious it could make Bakole’s Rumble in the Jungle dream move a step closer. AJ has already revealed his hopes to fight in Africa, with Bakole vowing back in 2018 to make the fight happen. Back then the pair got a taster of what it would be like to face each other, taking part in a number of training spar sessions.
In 2018, the Airdrie boxing ace said: “It was a wonderful experience sparring with such great fighters. I wasn’t intimidated by them – it inspires me. I’ve always dreamed of being world champion and I believe I will get the belt one day. I want to be in the mix in the next 12 months. I am scared of no one. Joshua, Fury, I don’t care who is put in front of me. I’ll take on any of them.
He added said: “AJ’s a tremendous fighter and it is hard work in the gym with him. But you don’t get invited back for four weeks unless you’re doing something right. It works for both of us because no one wants to spar with me and no one wants to spar with him either. So we help each other. People would pay to see us sparring. He hits hard – but I took it. I also gave a lot back. The sparring was intense but it has just given me an appetite to do it for real.”
Manager Billy Nelson had a ringside view of the clash. He said: “I remember watching AJ land a right on Martin’s jaw, it was so hard I nearly went down for a count! But he soaked it up and came back for more. He won AJ’s respect with that shot.”
But things have been more hostile since then with Bakole sparking a war of words with boxing big-gun Joshua after he, who has Nigerian heritage, tipped Efe Ajagba to beat him earlier this year. In a video calling out Joshua, Bakole said: “Hey Anthony Joshua, this video is for you. I wanted to call you out, you’re talking s*** about Ajagba saying Ajagba is going to beat me. Shame on you, how many times did I call you out? How many times did I ask you to fight in Africa?
“You should feel ashamed of yourself. I want to fight you, I want to knock you out. Look at Daniel Dubois, I broke his nose twice (when sparring) and he knocked you out cold. I will knock you out in the first round. We’re talking about Ajagba, Ajagba is a baby wait until you see how I’m going to knock him out. I invite you to be there, you’re taking s*** I want to fight you. Stop talking nonsense.”
Anthony Joshua has “two fights, three fights max” left before retirement, according to promoter Eddie Hearn. Speaking with talkSPORT on Thursday he name dropped Bakole as one of the fighters on their mind.
He said: “The plan and the goal for Anthony Joshua, always, from now to the moment he retires, is to try and win the World Heavyweight Championship. To try and become a three-time World Heavyweight Champion. So, of course, the other fight, which we know at the moment is not available, is Tyson Fury, he wanted that fight. But, if you said to AJ, ‘what do you want to do most next?’ He would say, ‘I want another shot at a World Heavyweight title.
“That’s a natural thing. You know, you’ve got [Martin] Bakole, you’ve got [Deontay] Wilder, you’ve got the winner of [Agit] Kabayel against [Zhilei] Zhang. They’re all possible fights, but, you know, you keep hearing about, ‘oh, AJ won’t fight this guy, won’t fight that guy’. Come on, look at his resume.
“Like, when he boxed Oleksandr Usyk, he gave Usyk the shot at the World Heavyweight Championship. And everyone said to me, ‘oh, don’t fight Usyk, don’t fight Usyk’. It’s never my say. AJ wants to fight the best, he wants to challenge himself, and he wants to try and become undisputed, so he had to take care of his mandatory.”