Martin Bakole's recent win over Jared Anderson has put him in the spotlight. The Congolese heavyweight stopped America's next big hope in the fifth round, marking the biggest victory of his career so far.
Bakole's confidence has grown, and he's not shy about telling everyone how good he is. He calls himself "the most avoided man on the planet" and thinks top fighters won't face him because of how well he's done in sparring sessions.
In a chat with TalkSPORT, Bakole made some big claims about his sparring experiences:
"Ask anyone about me. Go ask Daniel Dubois about me, ask Joshua about me, ask Usyk about me, ask Tyson Fury about me, they will keep quiet. Nobody will say they gave me a hard time. I gave them all a hard time. I stopped Daniel Dubois twice, stopped Joe Joyce and Joshua oh, that was a big one, he was hurt that day."
Bakole says he stopped Daniel Dubois twice and Joe Joyce in sparring. He also claims he hurt Anthony Joshua badly.
Eddie Hearn, Joshua's promoter, had something to say about this. He told Box Nation:
"I think he's had some great spars. I've seen him spar AJ. Wars. I don't know, he dropped Usyk did he? Or he dropped Dubois or whatever? I'm sure he's capable of dropping anyone … Sometimes you go into a spar, you get hurt, maybe you're not switched on, maybe you've got a little niggle. It's boxing."
Hearn confirms that Bakole and Joshua had some tough sparring sessions. But he's careful not to make too much of it. He points out that sparring isn't the same as a real fight. Fighters might not be fully focused or could have small injuries.
Bakole thinks Joshua will never fight him because of these sparring sessions. But right now, Joshua has other plans. He's trying to become a three-time heavyweight champion. His next fight is against Daniel Dubois, and after that, he wants to face the winner of the Usyk-Fury rematch.
As for Bakole, he's moving up in the heavyweight ranks. Fans and Riyadh Season's Turki Alalshikh are pushing for a fight between Bakole and Zhilei Zhang, the Chinese southpaw. It looks like Bakole's big win over Anderson might lead to even bigger opportunities.
