Martin Bakole

Bio

Martin Bakole is a Congolese heavyweight based in Airdrie, Scotland, and for a long stretch he was the most avoided man in the division. Big, genuinely strong, and far more skilled than his frame suggests, he trains out of the Scottish gym scene and has built a reputation as the fight nobody with a title wants.

His stoppage of Jared Anderson was the performance that finally made the wider public pay attention. He dropped the unbeaten American three times and took him out, and did it with pressure and body work rather than one wild swing.

Bakole's weakness has always been activity and conditioning between camps rather than ability. When he arrives in shape he is a nightmare for anybody — heavy hands, a decent jab, and the ability to fight on the inside without holding.

He is the sort of fighter British and world heavyweight boxing needs more of: no belt, no promotional machine behind him, and an absolute certainty that he will turn any fight into a hard night.