A new fight has been added to the already stacked Crawford vs Madrimov card in Jared Anderson vs Martin Bakole. This comes as an excellent addition to an already near-perfect card, on paper. Turki Alalsheik announced the new fight in a Tweet.
The addition of Anderson vs Bakole follows the loss of an absolute banger of Tim Tzyu vs Vergil Ortiz Jr. That fight was removed from the card due to Tzyu having issues relating to the cut sustained against Sebastian Fundora. So, instead, we have been given something that equals the excitement for the cancelled fight.
Jared Anderson vs Martin Bakole
Anderson is a rising prospect who, until recently, was predicted by many as a future champion. He’s athletic, fast and skilled. Anderson is undefeated and 15 of his 17 wins come by way of knockout. Recently, however, Anderson has shown some cracks. Mainly defensively and his ability to finish. Anderson’s defensive flaws were highlighted in his fight against Charles Martin, a former champion, who everyone expected Anderson to blast out. But, Martin was able to survive and caught Anderson with decent shots.
Anderson also had a stinker of a fight against journeyman, Ryad Merhy. Anderson won every round of the fight and got the win. However, the fight wasn’t particularly entertaining. Albeit, that isn’t solely on Anderson, as it takes two to tango and Merhy was an unwilling dance partner. Anderson tried to get Merhy out of there, however, Merhy was very negative, just aiming to survive. So, despite the recent issues Anderson is still very much a dangerous prospect.
Bakole is a contender who has been on the slow rise and, if anything, looks more impressive in recent times. Bakole is known as a fairly technical bulldozer with big power and an absolute giant of a man. He has had his most impressive wins recently putting a beating on Olympic gold medallist, Tony Yoka. Similarly, he beat up Carlos Takam, a former contender, finishing him in round 4.
This should be an excellent fight with both men looking to put the rest of the division on notice. Stylistically, this should also be very fun with both fighters having great stamina and punch output. The big questions are: can Anderson gain Bakole’s respect enough to keep him at bay, and will Anderson’s leaky defence cost him?
Featured image credit to Embed from Getty Images & Embed from Getty Images
