As fans know, Martin Bakole and Jared Anderson will square off in a very interesting and potentially explosive heavyweight encounter on August 3, this on the stacked, Terence Crawford headlined card in Los Angeles. And Bakole’s trainer Billy Nelson says he expects his man to score a pretty quick stoppage win over Anderson, with the win hopefully leading the 31 year old into an even bigger fight.
Speaking with IFL TV, Nelson said he would love Bakole to get a fight with Zhilei Zhang, in China, after he beats Anderson. And Nelson said he feels Bakole would do a number on Zhang, in pretty swift fashion.
“[A win over Anderson] allows Martin to fight anybody,” Nelson said when asked what a win over the unbeaten 24 year old Anderson does for his fighter’s career. “I mean, the two fights I’d like are Joseph Parker or [Zhilei] Zhang – in China. ‘Cos I think he’d do a right number on Zhang. That is a fight that we would bite the arm off a promoter for. I think he’d stop Zhang with relative ease – too quick, too smart, and he’ll do him. I’m very confident Martin will stop him [Anderson], and I think it could be quite early. Jared Anderson will never, ever have faced anybody like Martin Bakole.”
So, if Nelson is correct, and if Bakole can get his hands on first Anderson and then Zhang, it could be big, statement-making KO’s all-round for the big guy who was born in The Democratic Republic of The Congo. Of course, talk is just that, talk. Bakole, however, is a fighter who has been avoided and who has had a tough time getting the big opportunities (Nelson, for example, was furious when he found out that Joe Joyce, who was supposedly close to taking a fight with Bakole, instead opted to fight Derek Chisora instead).
Now, after winning nine fights on the bounce since suffering his sole pro loss (this at the hands of Michael Hunter, who last night won a version of the WBA heavyweight title; rematch, anyone?), Bakole gets a big chance on a big stage against the 17-0(15) Anderson. Can Bakole KO Anderson, and then land a massive fight with Zhang in China? It certainly would be interesting seeing the massive (around 300 pounds for at least one of his fights) Bakole swapping leather with fellow man-mountain Zhang!
