Speculation has been growing in the last few days that Anthony Joshua and Martin Bakole are set to fight in Africa.
Joshua hasn’t fought since he was stopped inside five rounds by IBF world champion Daniel Dubois back in September. He had hoped to fight Tyson Fury this year but Fury announced his retirement at the start of 2025.
Bakole is an often avoided heavyweight who has stopped Carlos Takam and, even more impressively, the much-hyped American Jared Anderson in his last two fights.
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He is now in camp for an IBF eliminator against Efe Ajagba with his promoter, Ben Shalom, saying a deal to face Joshua was ‘done’ for the Congo later in the year.
“The promoter of Martin Bakole, that’s what I want to be known as. The number one heavyweight in the world. It’s done. I’m hearing he’s signed and we’re off to the Congo.”
However, speaking to BoxNation, journalist Gareth A Davis revealed that Joshua’s camp hadn’t even had a conversation about the potential match-up.
“With them saying that I had to check that out with certain people who shall remain nameless off the record but I’m hearing from Anthony Joshua’s side there hasn’t even been a conversation. Maybe this is Bakole and his team trying to speak the fight into reality given that Joshua hasn’t got a fight yet and Tyson Fury has retired and that was his obvious fight this summer.
It would be a major spectacle in Africa, in Congo, in that Stadium that Ali and Foreman fought in. It’s a great event if they can do it there 51 years after the Rumble in the Jungle, but I’m sorry I’m hearing there hasn’t even been a conversation about it.”
For now, it seems that this one is a long way off.
