Oleksandr Usyk has established himself as one of, if not the, greatest heavyweight of this generation by becoming the first undisputed heavyweight champion of the four-belt era with a legendary win over Tyson Fury. However, one of his former sparring partners has revealed the man who he thinks would have the undefeated Ukrainian’s number.
Usyk conquered the cruiserweight division in style, picking up all four belts at the weight with three wins on away soil. The undefeated superstar then moved up to heavyweight but was largely written off by fighters at the weight and by the public, believing Usyk to simply be too small to replicate his success from the 200lb scene.
However, those doubters were soon proven wrong when Usyk twice defeated Anthony Joshua to become the unified title-holder, before a historic meeting with ‘The Gypsy King’ – where he edged a famous split-decision victory.
Yet, speaking to Boxing Social, British fan-favourite heavyweight Dave Allen explained why he believes Martin Bakole would prove too big for Usyk, after sparring both men.
“When I did a few rounds with him, he weren’t that big back then to be honest. He has put a lot of size on and he looks out of shape, doesn’t he, he looked terrible the other day in terms of his condition. He is just so relaxed.
“I couldn’t believe that a man that size could put six and seven punches together like he did. I’ve sparred everybody, Fury, Usyk, none of them put shots together like that.
“He doesn’t even throw with any power. It is very fast because there is no power in it, but he is so big [that it still hurts]. He is going to take some beating I think. Bakole would beat Usyk, I have no doubt in my mind, he is way too big and he is all wrong for Usyk.
“The only people that I could see giving him trouble would be Zhang because he is just as big and powerful, and [Tyson] Fury and [Anthony] Joshua – no one else has any chance with him.”
Like Usyk, Bakole has also had his doubters after a disappointing knockout defeat to Michael Hunter in 2018. However, wins over Tony Yoka and Carlos Takam within the lasrt couple of years have proved Bakole to be a worthy contender in the division.
At the weekend, Bakole’s reputation was boosted ten-fold as he put an end to the undefeated record of highly-rated American prospect Jared Anderson, upsetting the odds with a fifth-round knockout win.
The Congolese big man now finds himself well positioned as the WBA mandatory challenger and is being linked to a mammoth showdown with Zhieli Zhang that will likely fall on the Usyk-Fury II undercard.
Should he be successful against Zhang, Bakole’s trainer is convinced that following outing would be for a world title, whether that be against Usyk or for a vacant belt.
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