BAKOLE STEALS THE SHOW AT THE BMO
In a week where boxing was one of the most talked about sports in the media for all the wrong reasons, it clawed its reputation back on Saturday night with some thrilling action both in the UK and US.
Starting in Barnsley, and one if not the craziest rounds of boxing you’ll ever see, Joe Laws and Stephen McKenna stole the show with what can only be described as the modern-day version of Hagler v Hearns.
From the off, the pair slugged it out with both hitting the deck in the first round. The second round was just as violent but in the third, Laws succumbed to the pressure of the undefeated McKenna as his corner threw in the towel to save him for another day. Huge credit to both lads who backed up the pre-fight trash talk and stuck to their word.
Caroline Dubois once again impressed when scoring a unanimous points decision win over Maira Moneo before it was time for the main event, and the hometown hero Callum Simpson challenging Zak Chelli for his British & Commonwealth super-middleweight titles.
Early on, Simpson was the one forcing the pace. He refused to let the reigning champion find any rhythm and imposed his size well to cut off the space both with his hands and feet.
Simpson was clearly the one with the power advantage, but Chelli’s triple jab did keep him in the fight at times. Down the stretch, however, Simpson took charge once again and extended his undefeated record to 15-0, picking up the Commonwealth and British titles.
A seriously good fighter with huge support and a massive future. That’s just the first of many mega nights at Oakwell.
Elsewhere, Turki Alalshikh was hosting his first ever Riyadh Season show in the States with an action-packed line up at Los Angeles’ BMO Stadium.
The first fight on the main card saw Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medallist Andy Cruz take on the vastly experienced Antonio Moran.
Untested in his first three professional contests, Moran took the fight to Cruz and gave him a proper gut check in the mid-rounds, before the class of the Cuban shone through to see him secure a seventh-round stoppage win over the Mexican.
Up next was Cruz’s fellow countryman David Morrell, who was looking to make a statement against former world title challenger Radivoje Kalajdzic.
A notoriously quick starter, Morrell showed signs early on that it would be a standard night’s work. However, the Serbian Kalajdzic proved his worth and despite Morrell winning comfortably on the scorecards after 12 rounds, they were very much 12 learning rounds for the Cuban light-heavyweight who has now become mandatory for the winner of the Artur Beterbiev - Dmitry Bivol clash.
Now to what was quite easily the fight of the night, and the performance of the night.
When it was announced that the undefeated Jared Anderson was set to take on Martin Bakole, many fight fans in the UK believed it was maybe a little too much too soon, whereas the general consensus in the US was that it was perfect timing.
Well, how wrong could the US boxing faithful have been?
After two minutes of sussing each other out, Bakole started to plod forward in his customary fashion and at the end of the first round, he dropped Anderson heavily with the bell saving the American.
Anderson did show a lot of resilience and in round two, he got back to his gameplan but already, Bakole was in seek and destroy mode, and you got the sense he was going to be impossible to stop.
Moving forward, feet square, trying to send Anderson’s ribs and chin to Santa Monica beach, the Congolese giant was a man possessed and after dropping his rival twice in the fifth, the ref waved it off.
In terms of statements, this was the biggest in the heavyweight division this year, and the win now sees Bakole throw himself right into that top five mix in the upper echelons of the division.
The world really is his oyster.
Jarrell Miller and Andy Ruiz were up next and in a fight between two men who were on the comeback trail, it lived up to expectations.
Miller, renowned for his durability, took the fight to Ruiz and despite the former world champion comfortably winning the early rounds, Miller took the mid to late rounds and seemingly won the fight fairly comfortably.
However, the judges didn’t see it that way, scoring it a majority-draw to the amazement of the crowd.
A rematch will likely happen next and it’s unlikely few boxing fans would have any issues with seeing them do it all over again.
The chief support to the main event saw Isaac ‘Pitbul’ Cruz defend his WBA world 140lbs title for the first time against the Robert Garcia-trained Jose Valenzuela.
A big favourite going into the fight, Cruz just couldn’t seem to get going with Valenzuela using his seven-inch reach advantage to upset the rhythm of the Mexican.
As the scorecards came in, Valenzuela was announced as the winner by a split-decision. The right man won, but the fact it was a split-decision win still left many bemused.
The main event saw Terence Crawford bidding to become a four-weight world champion against the undefeated Israil Madrimov.
A battle between two master technicians, that’s exactly how it played out. Neither fighter ever properly stamped their authority on the contest, which was ultimately a 12-round chess match.
Madrimov’s elusive style on the feet caused Bud problems, but the American was able to use his counterpunching style to his advantage with the judges giving him the win by unanimous decision.
A mature performance from Crawford, it brought an end to his 11-fight stoppage streak which has spanned over eight years.
What next for Bud? Well, Canelo Alvarez is the name on everybody’s lips. That does mean he would have to step up two more weights, but looking at the size of him against Madrimov, that shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
I think we can all agree that is one particular fight the whole boxing world would love to see.