With unresolved drug tests, dangerous weight cuts, and promoters calling the shots, the rematch exposes a sport that too often risks its fighters for profit, writes JOHN WIGHT
Not since Ali fought Foreman has Congo revered a heavyweight fighter as they do Bakole
JOHN WIGHT charts the inexorable rise of a Congolese heavyweight and honorary son of Scotland
Martin Bakole celebrates after victory against Rodney Hernandez in their Heavyweight contest at Manchester Arena, Manchester, November 2, 2019
England’s warm-up sees big runs for the top order but senior pair miss out
NOT since New York’s Ray Arcel and Panama’s Roberto Duran formed one of the most successful, if unlikely, trainer-fighter partnerships in the history of boxing back in the early 1970s has there been a trainer-fighter relationship quite like the one currently enjoyed by Billy Nelson and his heavyweight charge, Martin Bakole.
That boxing is a sport that transcends national, racial and cultural differences has never been more clearly illustrated when taking in hand the way that Nelson, a working-class son of Glasgow and Bakole, from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), have gelled to the point where the latter is now being talked about as a future world champion.
His most recent outing at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles saw him completely dominate the highly rated and hitherto undefeated US prospect, Jared Anderson, on the way to an emphatic 5th round stoppage. The result is Bakole’s stock being significantly upped after many painstaking years of being avoided by the cream of the division.
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