Two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua silenced some of his doubters with an emphatic knockout win over Francis Ngannou at the weekend, but one of the heavyweight division’s most avoided fighters remains unimpressed.
‘AJ’ showed that he was levels above Ngannou with a second-round stoppage over the Cameroonian in Riyadh, scoring three knockdowns against the former UFC heavyweight champion in less than six minutes of action.
However, Martin Bakole, who claims to have stopped Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois in sparring, has called for a fight against Joshua in Africa, telling iFL TV that although he has already destroyed one ‘African giant’, he is yet to triumph over an ‘African boxing giant’.
“He starts thinking and looking about money before he faces people like us. To knock Ngannou out, yeah, he has done well. Ngannou has done well in MMA, but not in boxing. If you want to fight an African giant, I am Martin Bakole, number one with the WBA, he is coming in at number two.
“If you want to fight in the Congo, in Nigera, in Africa, you should fight me, not Ngannou. Much respect to Ngannou, but this I need to make clear, Anthony Joshua – come and fight an African giant in boxing, Martin Bakole.”
Despite Bakole’s call-out, there remains a variety of potential opponents for Joshua whilst he waits for the two-fight Fury-Usyk saga to envelop.
At present, the likely outcome is that the IBF title is vacated after Fury and Usyk’s first bout, with Filip Hrgovic poised to fight for the vacant belt, and Joshua well poised to be in the opposing corner.