{"id":505271,"date":"2026-03-31T14:01:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T14:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/505271\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T14:01:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T14:01:13","slug":"sam-jones-calls-for-moses-itauma-vs-martin-bakole-fight-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/505271\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Jones Calls For Moses Itauma Vs Martin Bakole Fight Next"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=boxingnews24.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"660\" height=\"208\" alt=\"Add EBoxing News 24as a preferred source on Google\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/google.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqLAgKIiZDQklTRmdnTWFoSUtFR0p2ZUdsdVoyNWxkM015TkM1amIyMG9BQVAB?ceid=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><br \/>\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"468\" height=\"128\" alt=\"Follow Boxing News 24 on Google News\" style=\"height:100%; width:auto; display:block;\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/follow-google-news.png\"\/><br \/>\n  <\/a> <\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust a walk in the park that was for Itauma. Him vs Bakole would be a very good fight to make,\u201d said Jones on social media.<\/p>\n<p>Frank Warren has been vocal about making Itauma the youngest heavyweight champion ever. A loss to a \u201cboogeyman\u201d like Bakole, who offers high risk but relatively low commercial reward compared to a world title shot, could permanently stall that historic goal.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a massive jump in terms of both the \u201cpunched back\u201d factor and sheer physical scale for Itauma going against Bakole. The version of Bakole that showed up in the low 280s to stop Jared Anderson was a mobile, high-volume nightmare.<\/p>\n<p>Even a \u201cheavy\u201d Bakole at 300+ lbs still has a massive 82-inch reach and a thudding jab. Unlike Itauma\u2019s previous opponents, Bakole won\u2019t be intimidated by the hype. He\u2019s spent years as the \u201cboogeyman\u201d in sparring sessions with the likes of Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.<\/p>\n<p>Bakole already showed what happens when a rising heavyweight steps up too soon. Jared Anderson went in with momentum and came out needing to rebuild after their 2024 fight. That result still sits there as a warning.<\/p>\n<p>Itauma is younger and still being built. Bakole doesn\u2019t fade early, and he doesn\u2019t give opponents time to settle. If Itauma can\u2019t get him out of there, the fight changes quickly.<\/p>\n<p>From a managerial standpoint, putting a 21-year-old Itauma in with a 300-pound veteran who has nothing to lose is a terrifying prospect. If Bakole shows up in shape (back in those 280s), he likely has the engine to drag Itauma into deep water. If he shows up at 300+, it becomes a sloppy, leaning affair that might not help Itauma\u2019s development anyway.<\/p>\n<p>It feels like a fight that Sam Jones wants for the headlines, but one Frank Warren might steer clear of until Itauma has at least one 10-round \u201cdog fight\u201d under his belt.<\/p>\n<p>Olly Campbell is a boxing journalist who has covered the sport since 2014, providing ringside reporting and technical analysis of major bouts. His work focuses on fighter tendencies, tactical adjustments, and the details that shape high-level competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cJust a walk in the park that was for Itauma. Him vs Bakole would be a very good&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-505271","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505271","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=505271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}