Martin Bakole has often found it hard to get the big fights he craves but has now been ordered to fight a WBA eliminator which will get him on the way towards competing for a world title.
He has since rebuilt and beaten the likes of Carlos Takam, Sergey Kuzmin and Tony Yoka. He has also claimed to have knocked down Oleksandr Usyk during sparring and has been praised by Usyk’s manager who deems him good enough to be a future world champion.
The two sides will have 30 days to negotiate terms for a fight with the winner earning themselves the mandatory challenger position for the belt owned by WBA king Usyk.
His proposed opponent Cassius Chaney is 23 and 1 with 16 knockouts. He is 36 years old and from Baltimore and in his last fight, he knocked out former WBA ‘Regular’ titlist Trevor Bryan in November in the seventh round having also had him down in the second.
It was his second win following a split decision defeat to George Arias in December 2021. If an agreement cannot be made between Bakole and Chaney, a purse bid will be held with a 50-50 split.
You can see the man who trains Bakole, Billy Nelson, reacting to the news below.
