Martin Bakole has won nine straight since a TKO loss to Michael Hunter
No word yet as to whether Vergil Ortiz Jr will face a replacement foe on Los Angeles’ August 3rd Terence Crawford vs Israil Madrimov show, but we did get some good news today. Turki Alalshikh announced that top heavyweight prospect Jared Anderson, who’d been tabbed to meet Deontay Wilder had “The Bronze Bomber” beaten Zhilei Zhang last weekend, will instead face Martin Bakole.
Anderson (17-0, 15 KO) was long seen as the future of the division as he racked up quick knockout after quick knockout, but he’s lost some shine over the last year thanks to uninspiring performances against Charles Martin and Ryad Merhy alongside a couple of arrests for assorted driving crimes.
Bakole (20-1, 15 KO) once found himself in similar straights after a shock stoppage loss to MIchael Hunter in 2018. Since then, though, he’s proven his mettle with nine straight wins, notably beating Sergey Kuzmin and kicking off the fall of Tony Yoka. That said, he’s also got some question marks after coming in near 300 pounds for last October’s finish of Carlos Takam, which is around 25 higher than when he beat Yoka two years back and almost 50 higher than when he beat Kuzmin.
It’s a very good matchup, a genuine trial by fire for the flagging Anderson and a chance for Bakole to finally put his name back in the title picture after years of rebuilding.
