{"id":520057,"date":"2026-04-08T18:59:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T18:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/520057\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T18:59:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T18:59:07","slug":"martin-bakole-finally-speaks-out-one-man-is-trying-to-ruin-my-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/520057\/","title":{"rendered":"Martin Bakole finally speaks out: &#8220;One man is trying to ruin my career&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/boxer\/martin-bakole\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Martin Bakole<\/a> has provided some clarity on his inactivity.<\/p>\n<p>Once known as the heavyweight division\u2019s bogeyman, Bakole was last in action nearly a year ago in May 2025 when he was held to a majority decision draw against Efe Ajagba in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n<p>That clash came three months after Bakole had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skysports.com\/boxing\/news\/12183\/13314739\/joseph-parker-ends-martin-bakoles-fairy-tale-title-bid-with-crushing-knockout-in-second-round\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">stepped in on short notice to face Joseph Parker<\/a>, suffering a second round stoppage loss, but prior to that the Congo heavyweight had claimed an impressive win over previously unbeaten Jared Anderson.<\/p>\n<p>It was claimed this week by fellow heavyweight contender Guido Vianello that <a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/news\/martin-bakole-fight-pull-out\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bakole had pulled out of a bout<\/a> between the two that was planned for the Oleksandr Usyk vs. Rico Verhoeven card in Egypt next month, but now Bakole has spoken out on the matter.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MartinBakole01\/status\/2041903318297923594?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\">Posting on social media<\/a>, Bakole said promoter Ben Shalom is \u2018trying to ruin his career\u2019 despite being \u2018out of contract.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor everybody asking what is happening with me. I am ready to fight anytime but one man is trying to ruin my career: Ben Shalom. I don\u2019t understand why he is doing it. He has been earning money from me for years and years and has kept me tied up in a contract.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy lawyer has confirmed that my contract with him is finished. I try to move on and he sends crazy emails to everyone blocking me from fighting and earning a living.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe is trying to scare me saying he will sue everyone if I fight and don\u2019t pay him. I fight to provide for my family, not for Ben Shalom. He is not my promoter. I am ready to fight but I will not pay that man another cent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shalom and Bakole have had a promotional relationship for since 2023, but it is clear there are now major issues between the two men.<\/p>\n<p>Update: BOXXER has now responded with the following statement.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"zxx\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AXYy1PZ8Ko\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/AXYy1PZ8Ko<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 BOXXER (@boxxer) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/boxxer\/status\/2041936914727473212?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">April 8, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                                            <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Martin Bakole has provided some clarity on his inactivity. Once known as the heavyweight division\u2019s bogeyman, Bakole was&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517384,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-520057","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\/520057","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=520057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}