-
Mike Coppinger, ESPN Boxing Insider
Jared Anderson, the top American heavyweight champion hopeful, will face his toughest test yet with an Aug. 3 fight vs. Martin Bakole in Los Angeles, it was announced Wednesday.
Anderson (17-0, 16 KOs) was lined up for a bout with former champion Deontay Wilder on the Riyadh Season event headlined by Terence Crawford-Israil Madrimov. However, Wilder suffered a brutal fifth-round TKO loss vs. Zhilei Zhang on Saturday that removed him from consideration.
Now, it’s Bakole (21-1, 15 KOs) who will represent the first top-level opponent of Anderson’s career. Bakole, 30, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, is ESPN’s No. 10 heavyweight. He’s the younger brother of former cruiserweight champion Ilunga Makabu.
Anderson, who fights out of Houston, is ESPN’s No. 8 heavyweight.
At 6-foot-4, 250.9 pounds, Anderson, 24, towered over Ryad Merhy, an undersized heavyweight (5-9, 135.6 pounds) whom he outpointed over 10 rounds in April. That won’t be the case against the 6-6 Bakole. who weighed in at 299.5 pounds for his fourth-round TKO of Carlos Takam in December in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Bakole handed Olympic gold medalist Tony Yoka his first loss in May 2022 by majority decision. Bakole’s lone defeat came in October 2018 via 10th-round TKO to Michael Hunter. Hunter’s only loss came via decision vs. undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk in an April 2017 cruiserweight title fight.
Anderson’s win over Mehry was his first in-ring action since a string of run-ins with the law. Anderson was arrested in February in Michigan after police said he led them on a car chase of more than 6 miles with speeds exceeding 130 mph.
In December, Anderson pleaded no contest to improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle while an OVI charge was dropped in connection with a November 2023 arrest in Ohio.
The Aug. 3 Riyadh Season card in Los Angeles will be the first outside the Kingdom organized by Turki Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority.
In the main event, Crawford will seek a fourth division title in a junior middleweight championship fight vs. Madrimov. Isaac Cruz will defend his WBA junior welterweight title vs. Jose Valenzuela on the undercard, while former heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz meets Jarrell Miller. Vergil Ortiz will fight a replacement opponent after Tim Tszyu was forced to withdraw last week because of a cut on his scalp that hasn’t yet healed.