Unbeaten Congolese heavyweight Martin Bakole would knock out Joy Joyce – and will be ready to face Anthony Joshua in 12 months time – according to his trainer Billy Nelson.
After massacring DL Jones inside a round this past weekend on the undercard of Josh Taylor’s victory over Viktor Postol in Glasgow, Bakole reaffirmed his status as one of the most dangerous heavyweights on the scene.
His relatively-low profile, coupled with fight-ending power in either hand, has left Bakole short of likely options in the burgeoning heavyweight division – with the 6ft 6in power-hitter deemed too great a risk for the more “well invested” campaigners, such as Hayemaker Ringstar heavyweight Joe Joyce.
“We’d like to face Joyce, but I’m not surprised in the slightest that they don’t want to fight Martin because Joe is a good fighter and has been well invested in.” Nelson told Sky Sports.
“That investment would come to a sudden halt because Martin Bakole knocks Joe Joyce out, he’s far too quick and punches every bit as hard, if not harder.”
Nelson, who has become a prominent voice among boxing’s Twitter community with his bold proclamations about his fighter, went on to claim that Bakole’s career would be classes as a “failure” should the pair not go on to capture a World title together.
“Martin just has so much more than Joyce. If my man didn’t win a world title I would class that as a failure. We’re not here to win 6-8 rounders, we are both winners and I believe we will win major titles together.”
The Scotsman would then turn his attention to divisional kingpin Anthony Joshua, who he felt his charge would be in a position to challenge in just twelve months time.
“AJ has always stated that he wants to fight in Africa so why not, in a year’s time, take on Martin, the continent’s number one heavyweight,” Nelson said.
“It won’t be long before Martin is at that level. He has the skills and ability to take on ‘AJ’ now, but in 12 months when he has greater experience and more rounds in the bank, which is required, it’s a fantastic fight.”
As is customary in boxing circles, tales of Bakole’s ability has led to sparring murmurs (most recently that he stopped fellow prospect Daniel Dubois not once, but twice in a recent session) have served to build a mystique around the Cyclone Promotions puncher.
Nelson would go on to document a sparring session with ‘AJ’ that, in his opinion, showed his fighter is more than capable of holding his own with the WBA/WBO/IBF champion.
“I remember ‘AJ’ exploding a right hand off Martin’s jaw that even I nearly went down from it!” exclaimed Nelson.
Martin took it really well and came straight back with an uppercut of his own, a fantastic shot.”
“He certainly got AJ’s respect and showed he could take a shot and come right back.”
While little is known of Bakole outside boxing’s inner circle, performance like the one he put on this past weekend against DL Jones will do little to silence the whispers emerging about the 26-year-old.
Having extended Dubois into the third round for the first time in the Brit’s career, the consummate ease in which Jones was dispatched with by Bakole speaks volumes about the potential of the now-Airdrie resident.
After fracturing Jones’ eye-socket with virtually the first shot of the fight, the merciless Bakole made light work of his opponent, sending him to the canvas twice before the referee called a halt to proceedings.
It was reported that Jones suffered a detached retina as well as a broken nose at the hands of Bakole – and all in just 64 seconds of action.
While it remains to be seen whether Bakole will indeed entice the more glamorous names in the division into facing him, one thing is for certain: there is another welcome addition to the heavyweight mix and – according to Billy Nelson – he just may be the best of the bunch…