Martin Bakole upset Jared Anderson on August 3 at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. The bout was featured on the PPV card topped by Terence Crawford vs Israil Madrimov.
The Congolese heavyweight handed the Toledo native his first career defeat, dropping him three times along the way. The first knockdown was as early as in the first round, when Bakole landed a big right uppercut, followed by an other right hand and a one-two combination.
Bakole secured the second and third knockdowns in Round 5. He first dropped Anderson with a right hand followed by a left uppercut. The latter was able to get back up and beat the eight count.
As the fight resumed, the 32-year-old was right back in action, securing another knockdown with a repeated right hand. Anderson once again managed to get back on his feet, but to only get dominated with a flurry of punches from Bakole. Referee Jerry Cantu stepped in and called it a day at 2 minutes and 7 seconds into the fifth round.
With the victory by TKO, Martin Bakole improved to 21-1, 16 KOs, secured his 10th win in a row and made successful debut in the United States. Post-fight, the Airdrie, Scotland-based contender called out Michael Hunter for a rematch in hopes to avenge his sole career defeat via 10th round TKO in October 2018.
“I told you from the beginning, I came here to work, Bakole said post-fight. “This is my work. This is what I’m doing for my baby. This is what I’m doing for my country Congo. This is what I’m doing for Scotland, people, where I’m living right now.”
“We plan on it [to use uppercut]. Because this is what we play with my coach, we saw he switch a lot, so we plan like this.”
“Michael Hunter is here. My boy is here, this is the fight I always want. He always talk on social media. I’m here in America, I stopped the number one American here. I’m looking forward maybe to face [Oleksandr] Usyk, Tyson [Fury] and Michael Hunter I want a rematch.”
Jared Anderson dropped to 17-1, 15 KOs. The 24-year-old prospect lost his first pro fight.
“I made some of the same mistakes I’ve been making,” Anderson said. “I’m going home to my daughter, man, at the end of the day you. That’s all I’m really worried about. You win some, you lose some. I thought I had it, I ain’t going to lie, I ain’t coming to this motherf***er to lose. So hats off to him.”