Martin Bakole is building up a superb head of steam in the heavyweight division right now.
The Congolese fighter is based out of Scotland and after many years of promising to be a problem in the division, he is now coming good on that.
His last two fights have seen him stop tough Frenchman Carlos Takam out in Saudi Arabia and then travelled to the United States to take on the much-hyped young knockout artist Jared Anderson.
The thrilling contest saw Anderson knocked down early before being stopped in the fifth round under a barrage of shots from Bakole, who is now well-placed for a world title shot in the near future.
He has often spoken of his desire to rematch Michael Hunter who is the only man to beat him, but is also chasing the likes of IBF champion Daniel Dubois, the big-hitting Zhilei Zhang and Oleksandr Usyk, the man he says he stopped in sparring with a body shot.
Speaking to FightHype, former world champion Hasim Rahman says the Hunter fight would be ‘ideal’.
“A host of young guys is coming up. The Hunter Bakole match-up would be ideal. If Bakole really wants to show himself as a top, top heavyweight he needs to rematch Michael Hunter and show that wasn’t a fluke.
“If he can beat Hunter again, I think he’s legitimate. But if he don’t rematch Michael Hunter it don’t matter what else he can do. If he can’t beat Michael Hunter, he’s not better than Michale Hunter.”
Rahman even backed another stoppage win for Hunter.
“Not only do I think it would be a stoppage, I think it would be a quicker, earlier stoppage. Bakole is way overweight, strong, but Michael Hunter is not going to let him hit him and take away his strengths.”
After just three fights since 2021, Hunter has been relatively inactive in recent years so Bakole would present a huge challenge for the naturally smaller man.
