{"id":237897,"date":"2025-07-04T16:56:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T16:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/237897\/"},"modified":"2025-07-04T16:56:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T16:56:10","slug":"martin-bakoles-trainer-billy-nelson-insists-his-heavyweight-will-fight-anybody-but-admits-bakoles-excess-weight-led-to-reality-check","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/237897\/","title":{"rendered":"Martin Bakole’s Trainer Billy Nelson Insists His Heavyweight \u201cWill Fight Anybody,\u201d But Admits Bakole’s Excess Weight Led To \u201cReality Check\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Heavyweight contender Martin Bakole faced almost universal criticism regarding his weight when entering his last two fights, these against Joseph Parker and Efe Ajagba. Bakole was given at least a little bit of a break regarding his excess weight for the Parker fight as he took it on ludicrously short-notice, and was wiped out in a couple of rounds. But Bakole, currently 21-2-1(16) had no business coming in heavy for his next fight, this the draw with Ajagba.<\/p>\n

Now, speaking with The Ring<\/a>, Bakole\u2019s trainer Billy Nelson has said his fighter\u2019s weight must be and will be kept under control. Nelson says Bakole \u201cwill fight anybody,\u201d and that he has shown amazing ability in the gym but that when carrying the excess weight he has not been able to perform at his best.<\/p>\n

Can Bakole Finally Master His Weight and Reach His Potential?<\/p>\n

This will change in the immediate future, Nelson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike Moses Itauma who picks and chooses his opponents, we\u2019ll fight anybody and Turki Alalshikh knows that,\u201d Nelson said. \u201cIf you accept a Joseph Parker fight on 36 hours\u2019 notice, obviously your balls are in the right place. It didn\u2019t work out but we\u2019re confident it will going forward, especially after last time out. He\u2019s got to understand it [his weight and diet], otherwise he won\u2019t have the future I know he\u2019s capable of. I\u2019ve seen him do things in the gym that no other fighters do, but with the belly and all, that\u2019s a substandard Bakole performance. He\u2019s so much better than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who Should Bakole Face When He Gets Back on Track?<\/p>\n

Nelson said Bakole was back in the gym \u201cquickly\u201d after the draw with Ajagba, and the trainer said he hopes to fight again in August or September. If he can get his weight under control and come in far lower than the approximately 300 pounds he has scaled for his fights, Bakole could get back on track and be a real handful for any heavyweight out there. But that\u2019s the big question: has Bakole got the discipline needed to fulfil the potential Nelson speaks of?<\/p>\n

Only time will tell, but with a heavyweight, one or two impressive wins can mean a fighter is right back knocking on the door for a title shot. It will be interesting to see who Bakole is matched with when he does fight again. And Bakole\u2019s fight weight will prove very interesting indeed.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Boxing News<\/a> | Martin Bakole\u2019s Trainer Billy Nelson Insists His Heavyweight \u201cWill Fight Anybody,\u201d But Admits Bakole\u2019s Excess Weight Led To \u201cReality Check\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Heavyweight contender Martin Bakole faced almost universal criticism regarding his weight when entering his last two fights, these…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[82969,1935,12509,556,4332,4331,62894,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-237897","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-bmo-stadium","9":"tag-boxing","10":"tag-fight-night","11":"tag-los-angeles","12":"tag-mark-robinson","13":"tag-matchroom-boxing","14":"tag-riydah-season","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114796021882419373","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}