Heavyweight contender Martin Bakole has finally landed a significant fight in American contender Jared Anderson who he will be fighting on the undercard of the August 3rd card set to be headlined by Terence Crawford and Israil Madrimov. The event itself will be staged at the BMO Arena in Los Angeles, California, and also marks the first time General Entertainment Authority (GEA) chairman Turki Alalshikh will organize a card outside of his home country of Saudi Arabia.
Martin Bakole (20-1, 15 KO’s) will be substituting Deontay Wilder (43-4-1, 42 KO’s) who had been expected to face Jared Anderson (17-0, 15 KO’s) if he defeated Chinese contender Zhilei Zhang (27-2-1, 22 KO’s) on June 1st. However, with Wilder’s career arguably now over since losing to Zhang by a devastating technical knockout (TKO), Bakole was clearly sought out to provide Anderson with a valid opponent.
The heavyweight bout between Bakole and Anderson will be the toughest matchup for both fighters who have managed to get themselves on several of the sanctioning bodies’ top 10 rankings but have yet to be considered actual title challengers.
Their upcoming August 3rd bout can change that, with the winner guaranteed to be considered a viable contender; though an actual opportunity for a heavyweight world title will likely occur next year with Ukrainian undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 KO’s) and Tyson Fury (34-1-1, 24 KO’s) set to hold a rematch at the end of this year.
Interestingly enough Bakole’s upcoming match will mark the third time he will not seemingly be represented by UK-based promotion Boxxer who he signed a multi-fight deal with in February of 2023. The signing had thought to be a breakthrough move with Bakole having occupied the #1 spot on the WBA’s heavyweight rankings and therefore it was expected Bakole would participate in more significant fights to boost his profile, but the Congelese contender’s last two bouts featured him fighting on cards that had nothing to do with Boxxer.
The same can be said about his upcoming August 3rd fight with Anderson where Boxxer has not been identified as one of the co-promoters for the event; despite notably several promotions having attached themselves to the event in this capacity.
In any case, the Anderson-Bakole bout will be significant for both of them as even without a title opportunity, GEA chairman Turki Alalshikh has shown the ability to provide competitive and relevant matches for the public, guaranteeing that either Jared Anderson or Martin Bakole will enjoy more opportunities to increase their standing and reputation within the sport of boxing, as well as profit lucratively from their participation in top-rated matches.
