One-time boogeyman of the heavyweight division – this before he was wiped out by Joseph Parker and before he then struggled to a draw with Efe Ajabga – Martin Bakole was at ringside last night in Glasgow, this to watch 20 year old heavyweight sensation Moses Itauma fight Mike Balogun. And Bakole, who has heard how Itauma’s promoter Frank Warren has suggested that he is a good fight for Itauma, that he is an opponent the Queensbury boss would put Itauma in with next, stated that the young fighter everyone is talking about needs a real test before fighting him.
Bakole says Itauma needs to “fight good quality people”
Bakole, speaking with Boxing Social, said that Itauma, 12-0(10) beat a “bum” in Balogun.
“He did well, but against someone who is a bum,” Bakole said of Itauma’s showing last night when he stopped Balogun in round two. “At the high level, they have to give him a good test, because Moses can’t be calling out Martin Bakole after fighting a bum like this. He needs to fight good quality people. He has to test himself if he wants to be a world champion. He speaks his mind, I don’t even call his name or know who he is. I’m thinking about getting a big fight. I’m talking about getting a [fight with] a top 6 [opponent] – I don’t know if he’s top 10 or top 20. He’s a fighter and he’s doing what he’s doing, he’s speaking his mind.”
Bakole calls for Parker and Ajagba rematches instead
It sure sounds as though Itauma is not on Bakole’s radar, that the Congolese giant is far more interested in other fights. And Bakole did say in the same interview that the two fights he wants, and has asked Turki Alalshikh to make, are rematches with Parker and Ajagba. Bakole we know came into the Parker fight at extreme short-notice, and that he was overweight for the fight. Against Ajagba, Bakole says he fell victim to a “home decision” in favour of Ajagba.
Bakole, 21-2-1(16) says he has now made adjustments in training and that when he’s at his best “no one in the world will beat me.”
Let’s see who Bakole gets in his next fight, and if he can show up in better physical condition. As for Itauma, if it’s not Bakole next – and judging by what Bakole said last night it won’t be – who could the red-hot heavyweight sensation face in his next fight?
