Deontay Wilder replaced by 'most avoided heavyweight' on Terence Crawford undercard

06/06/2024 13:00

Deontay Wilder will no longer be competing on the Israil Madrimov vs Terence Crawford undercard on August 3.

Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh was lining up a fight between Wilder and Jared Anderson in Los Angeles provided he defeated Zhilei Zhang.

However, ‘The Bronze Bomber’ was knocked out in the fifth round by Zhang last weekend, spelling an end to Alalshikh’s plans.

It now seems highly likely that Wilder will hang up his gloves after admitting before the fight that defeat could spell the end of his career.

But one man’s loss is another man’s gain – and Martin Bakole has now been given the call to face Anderson instead.

The Congolese boxer has been steadily climbing up the heavyweight rankings after falling to defeat for the first and only time in his 21-fight (20-1) career against Michael Hunter in 2018.

Bakole recently recorded a career-best win against former world title challenger Carlos Takam in October.

However, he has struggled to land a big fight since.

He was in negotiations to face Joe Joyce next but according to his trainer and manager Billy Nelson, ‘The Juggernaut’ pulled out of the fight to pursue a domestic dust-up with Derek Chisora on July 27.

The difficulty of finding a fight for Bakole has led to his promoter Ben Shalom branding him ‘the most avoided heavyweight’ on the planet.

“Martin Bakole is the most avoided man in the glamour division and can beat every heavyweight on the planet on his day,” he wrote in his exclusive talkSPORT column.

“The Congolese puncher is an incredibly dangerous fight for anyone at his weight.

“He has all of the physical attributes needed to reach the top of the sport.

“His stamina is excellent, he’s extremely strong and on top of all of that, he is a very good boxer.

“It’s only a matter of time before he will be dining at the top table with the likes of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.”

His next outing against Anderson will prove whether Bakole is really as good as Shalom suggests.

Anderson (17-0) is one of the most exciting young up-and-coming heavyweights in the world right now.

A number of media outlets have branded him ‘a heavyweight world champion in waiting’ while Tyson Fury – who has sparred with Anderson several times – is tipping him as the ‘heir to his throne’.

If Bakole can derail the hype train then he will find himself in a very strong position to challenge for world titles down the line.