![\"Bakole](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-2201347804.jpg\")
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Bakole wants to fight Joshua in Africa next yearCredit: Getty<\/p>\n
Discussions surrounding Joshua’s opponent are already underway, with promoter Eddie Hearn<\/a> recently revealing that Africa’s two best heavyweights, Efe Ajagba and Bakole, are in the running to face his client.<\/a><\/p>\n Both men boxed to a majority draw in May and are eagerly awaiting big opportunities.<\/p>\n Bakole is very familiar with Joshua, having sparred him on multiple occasions.<\/p>\n There are conflicting accounts on what happened in the gym, but Bakole claims he ‘busted AJ up’.<\/p>\n Now, the heavy-handed fighter is hoping to prove he can do it under the bright lights.<\/p>\n Speaking to Sky Sports, the former boogeyman of the glamour division, said: “I’d take the fight with Anthony Joshua<\/a> in a heartbeat.<\/p>\n “We are both African fighters, and now we’re seeing boxing come back to Africa.<\/p>\n “Anthony Joshua doesn’t want to fight me. He knows what happened in sparring. <\/p>\n “If we get in the ring, I’m going to knock him out. Without doubt.<\/p>\n “I’ll even knock him out in Nigeria, in front of his own crowd. <\/p>\n 2<\/p>\n Africa has a rich boxing history, topped by ‘The Rumble in the Jungle’ between Ali and ForemanCredit: GETTYNever happening! Anthony Joshua urged to abandon comeback and retire from boxing by ex-world champion <\/p>\n “This is the fight to make. And we need to make it in Africa. It’ll be the Rumble in the Jungle II.”<\/p>\n African nations are looking to make major moves in boxing<\/p>\n Africa has played host to some blockbuster showdowns over the years.<\/p>\n None more so than the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ between Muhammad Ali<\/a> and George Foreman<\/a> in Zaire back in 1974. <\/p>\n The contest, which Ali won via eighth-round knockout, was watched by an estimated one billion people worldwide and is one of the most culturally significant fights in the history of the sport.<\/p>\n Since that fateful night, major bouts on the continent have slowly dried up, with Hasim Rahman<\/a>‘s stunning knockout win over Lennox Lewis<\/a> 24 years ago in South Africa being the last major fight to fall on African shores.<\/p>\n That trend appears to be shifting, though, with Amir Khan Promotions beginning to make inroads into the African market.<\/p>\n Last month, highly-ranked cruiserweights Brandon Glanton and Marcus Browne headlined a card in Nigeria.<\/p>\n And there are now bigger plans afoot, with David Adeleye, Lawrence Okolie<\/a>, Moses Itauma<\/a>, and Joshua all being looked at as potential main eventers by the Western African country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Martin Bakole has thrown his hat in the ring to face Anthony Joshua in Africa early next year.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182512,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[6565,2560,6102,17343,43467,8027,8720,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-182511","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-anthony-joshua","9":"tag-boxing","10":"tag-boxing-news","11":"tag-george-foreman","12":"tag-martin-bakole","13":"tag-muhammad-ali","14":"tag-nigeria","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Africa](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-517283874.jpg\")
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