Deontay Wilder will no longer be competing on the Israil Madrimov vs Terence Crawford undercard on August 3.
Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh was lining up a fight between Wilder and Jared Anderson in Los Angeles provided he defeated Zhilei Zhang.
However, ‘The Bronze Bomber’ was knocked out in the fifth round by Zhang last weekend, spelling an end to Alalshikh’s plans.
It now seems highly likely that Wilder will hang up his gloves after admitting before the fight that defeat could spell the end of his career.
But one man’s loss is another man’s gain – and Martin Bakole has now been given the call to face Anderson instead.
The Congolese boxer has been steadily climbing up the heavyweight rankings after falling to defeat for the first and only time in his 21-fight (20-1) career against Michael Hunter in 2018.
Bakole recently recorded a career-best win against former world title challenger Carlos Takam in October.
However, he has struggled to land a big fight since.
He was in negotiations to face Joe Joyce next but according to his trainer and manager Billy Nelson, ‘The Juggernaut’ pulled out of the fight to pursue a domestic dust-up with Derek Chisora on July 27.
“As expected Joe Joyce has pulled out of his arranged fight with Martin Bakole to fight Chisora,” Nelson wrote on X.
“For a man who claimed he crippled Martin with body shots, you’d think he’d gladly fight him.
“When you talk s**** you need to back it up, didn’t fancy not sleeping for another 9 weeks.”
The difficulty of finding a fight for Bakole has led to his promoter Ben Shalom branding him ‘the most avoided heavyweight’ on the planet.
“Martin Bakole is the most avoided man in the glamour division and can beat every heavyweight on the planet on his day,” he wrote in his exclusive talkSPORT column.
“The Congolese puncher is an incredibly dangerous fight for anyone at his weight.
“He has all of the physical attributes needed to reach the top of the sport.
