Although it is presumed that Martin Bakole will challenge Daniel Dubois, the IBF heavyweight titleholder, if Bakole gets past Efe Ajagba in an IBF eliminator in May, there are other possibilities, too.
For one, Dubois could come unstuck against Joseph Parker in a 50-50 fight on February 22 and lose his belt in the process. Secondly, even if Dubois does win that fight, it still won’t guarantee that he will defend his belt against Bakole anytime soon. Instead, Dubois may look to go directly to a unification fight against Oleksandr Usyk, with whom he has history. Or, if not that, he may decide to vacate the IBF belt altogether.
“Dubois won’t fight us,” Billy Nelson, Bakole’s coach, told BoxingScene. “I’ll tell you right now, I spoke to somebody at Queensberry Promotions in Saudi Arabia and they said to me: ‘I would advise Daniel not to fight Martin.’
“Martin schooled him in sparring. He is levels and levels above him. He has improved – of course he has. But do you think Martin Bakole hasn’t improved in those five or six years? Martin blows Daniel out of the water.”
Given a “three-fight plan” by Turki Alalshikh in Saudi Arabia, Bakole at least knows he will be busy in the coming months. He also has a backup plan should Dubois, as Nelson predicts, do all he can to avoid having to fight him.
This backup plan will require the cooperation of Anthony Joshua, as well as patience on the part of Bakole, 21-1 (16 KOs).
“No, I don’t think he will,” said Nelson when asked if he thinks Bakole will get his hands on a world heavyweight title this year. “I think the winner of Daniel and Joseph will fight Usyk, and we will fight Ajagba in New York and then Anthony Joshua in Africa – probably in the Congo.
“I know the Congolese government will fully support the fight going there, with the support of the Saudi Arabians. We can beat Anthony Joshua and fight for the world title after that. But you mark my words, if Daniel Dubois beats Parker and somehow beats Usyk and wins the unification, he will drop the IBF title rather than fight Martin Bakole.”
With Tyson Fury recently taking to his car to announce his latest retirement, the path back for Joshua no longer seems as clear or as obvious as it was a few weeks ago. Now he is suddenly without a big-name opponent with whom he can make a big pile of money and justify carrying on. Now he is having to think outside the box, get a little creative and consult the bucket list of things he might want to do before calling it quits.
One of these things, of course, is to fight in Africa.
“He is very interested,” said Nelson. “I mentioned the idea to him when they sparred years ago and I know he will take that fight. The bottom line is, it’s the biggest commercial fight for Anthony other than Fury. Daniel’s not going to fight him. He’s going to fight Usyk. But Anthony Joshua would earn massive money to go and fight in Africa. He’ll get more for that than he got for Dubois at Wembley, I’d say.”
As for whether Joshua would, like the rest, see Bakole as a risk not worth taking, Nelson suggests it is irrelevant at this stage of his career. “It doesn’t matter who he fights,” Nelson said. “With the fullest respect, the way Anthony is right now, all these fights we’re talking about are going to be tough for him: Dubois, Fury, Martin. He won’t be fighting Dubois or Fury, so there’s only Martin for him.”
Elliot Worsell is a boxing writer whose byline first appeared in Boxing News magazine at the age of 17. He has, in the 20 years since, written for various publications, worked as press officer for two world heavyweight champions and won four first-place BWAA (Boxing Writers Association of America) awards. In addition to his boxing writing, Worsell has written about mixed martial arts for Fighters Only magazine and UFC.com, as well as worked as a publicist for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He has also written two non-fiction books, one of which, “Dog Rounds,” was shortlisted at the British Sports Book Awards in 2018.
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