Anthony Joshua faces a challenge from Martin Bakole, even though he's not currently in line for a world title shot.
Joshua's had a tough time lately. He lost his unified belts to Oleksandr Usyk and then suffered a brutal loss to Daniel Dubois in an IBF strap fight. Dubois bullied 'AJ' and knocked him down three times before the referee stopped the fight in the 5th round. Now, Joshua's taking time to recover from injuries and figure out his next move.
Meanwhile, Martin Bakole's been making waves. He scored a big win over Jared Anderson last year and claims he's got the better of Dubois in sparring. The IBF has ordered a final eliminator between Bakole and Efe Ajagba, with the winner getting a shot at Dubois' title.
Joshua recently backed Ajagba to beat Bakole in that fight. Bakole didn't take kindly to that and fired back with a video on X (formerly Twitter) on January 6, 2025.
"Shame on you. You should feel ashamed of yourself. You're talking s**t. Stop talking nonsense. Now you're in Nigeria you're not British anymore. I want to fight you. I will knock you out in the first round. After knocking Ajagba out I will knock you out as well."
Bakole didn't stop there. He continued to criticize Joshua and challenge him:
"I called [you] out. I wanted to knock you out. How many times did I call you out? How many times did I ask you to fight in Africa? I broke his [Dubois'] nose twice [in sparring] and he knocked you out cold. Ajagba is a baby. I invite you to be there [for Bakole vs Ajagba fight]."
Despite Bakole's call-out, Joshua will probably focus on a potential fight with Tyson Fury instead. Both Joshua and Fury have lost to Usyk, so a matchup between them makes sense. As for Bakole's idea of fighting Joshua in Africa? That's not likely to happen anytime soon.
