Martin Bakole (21-1, 16 KOs) destroyed America’s best heavyweight, knocking out Jared Anderson (17-1, 15 KOs) in the fifth round in front of a stunned audience on Saturday night at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.

A Foreman-Esque Display of Power

Anderson was completely overmatched by Bakole, who looked George Foreman-esque. Bakole hurt Anderson and put him down three times in the contest before the referee, Jerry Cantu, stopped the fight at 2:07 of round five.

After the fight stopped, Anderson, bleeding from the mouth, staggered back to his corner, looking like he didn’t know what was going on. Bakole had beaten the stuffing out of Anderson in a classic demonstration of power punching.

The weird thing about the fight is Anderson had dominated most of the first round, peppering the slow, chunky-looking Bakole, 31, with jabs to the head and punches to his midsection.

Where things fell apart for Anderson is when he got in close, and Bakole landed a textbook uppercut that snapped his head back, hurting him. The shot caused Anderson to stagger backward to the ropes.

Bakole’s Relentless Assault

Bakole then calmly followed after his stricken prey, tagging him with three punches to the head that dropped on the canvas. Luckily for Anderson, the round ended before Bakole could finish the job.

Anderson fought reasonably well in rounds two and three but still got hit hard by Bakole at times and looked shaky. Bakole missed with some big punches in those rounds that would have likely knocked Anderson out if they’d connected.

In the fourth, Bakole walked through Anderson’s speedy combinations and blasted him with headshots that had him reeling by the end of the round. As the round ended, Anderson looked hurt, with blood coming out of his mouth, and it was clear he wasn’t going to make it through the next round.

Bakole finished the job like a surgeon in the fifth, knocking Anderson down with beauififul power punches to the head to get the stoppage.



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