Martin Bakole is fast becoming a real threat to the top names in the heavyweight division.
Bakole was back in action on the undercard of Tyson Fury vs Francis Ngannou and put in a performance that will make the rest of the blue-ribbon division take notice.
The Congolese heavy hitter, who is now based in Scotland, was facing former world title challenger Carlos Takam and lived up to his billing as boxing’s “most avoided” fighter.
Bakole landed some thunderous punches throughout the contest and finished the job with a devastating knockout in the fourth round.
The 30-year-old had been making headlines before a punch was thrown, claiming in the build up to have stopped unified champion, Oleksandr Usyk, in sparring.
“First or second round I think and I stopped him, he took about one, two minutes and they start again, but from that day his coach told me not to spar, they just used dome other guys, for him to recover.
I wasn’t surprised, I’m too strong for Usyk, I know how to box a southpaw.”
Now, speaking to SecondsOut straight after his victory over Takam, Bakole named the exact punch that he claims knocked Usyk out and forced them to stop sparring.
“It was a body shot. I stepped back and body shot.”
It’s not the first time Usyk has been accused of having a weakness to the midriff. In his last outing against Daniel Dubois in August, ‘DDD’ floored the Ukrainian with a shot that was deemed a low blow but split public opinion as to whether the ruling was correct.