Martin Bakole returned to the ring eleven months on from a statement win over Tony Yoka to defeat Ukraine’s Ihor Shevadzutskyi.
The man from Congo by way of Scotland recently penned a deal with BOXXER and Sky Sports to continue his career with their backing, and the first step on that journey came in Poland.
On the undercard of Alen Babic’s WBC Bridgerweight world title fight against Lukasz Rozanski in Rzeszow, Poland, Bakole faced the previously 10-0 (8 KOs) Shevadzutskyi.
Bakole came out and delivered his shots as if he was in front of the heavybag, unphased by anything that might come back and laser focused on landing an impressive array of shots.
At the halfway mark of the second, A sneaky uppercut followed by short left hook dropped ‘The Hulk’ heavy.
"𝘿𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙜𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙃𝙪𝙡𝙠" 😰 pic.twitter.com/ujSGKpFVeR
— Sky Sports Boxing (@SkySportsBoxing) April 22, 2023
Although Shevadzutskyi survived the round, Bakole’s uppercut was landing at will, and his work rate was increasing like a factory machine.
He landed seven unanswered shots in the third and the referee called a halt to the contest.
Martin Bakole stops Ihor Shevadzutskyi in ROUND THREE! 😮 pic.twitter.com/Mu6kf2xIL2
— Sky Sports Boxing (@SkySportsBoxing) April 22, 2023
Bakole has made the headlines recently for he claims to have done in sparring rather than the professional ring, but this victory gets him back in the conversation for intriguing match-ups.
His recent claims of stopping both world champion Oleksandr Usyk and mandatory challenger Daniel Dubois in the gym has been much discussed amongst fighters, fans and pundits, with may believing telling tales from sparring bad form.
Still, Bakole and his trainer, Billy Nelson, clearly feel that it’s one way to get the top dogs’ attention for a real fight. He’s now on an eight-fight win streak since his campaign’s sole loss against Michael Hunter back in 2018.
Fans would like to see the rematch, or a fight with a world-level operator like Joseph Parker or Dillian Whyte – the latter of which he called out post-fight.
Bakole is ranked number two with the WBA, and, with Whyte free to work with any promoter, it may be a fight worth taking both for standing as well as entertainment value for fans.