I'm always happy to see new match ups between heavyweight top 10s. If both are moving on their current trajectory I can see Hrgovic winning this as he gets fitter with his new camp and coach while Bakole gets fatter. A good match up though since there isn't an obvious winner. Both accurate punchers, both have solid chins, both big guys. I could see Bakole cracking that chin, but I could also see him gassing out and dropping his activity in the second half of the fight towards a UD loss.
This could be a great one. The way I see Bakole: world class offense, big power, poor defense, poor foot speed, decent chin. The way I see Hrgovic: world class right hand accuracy, good jab when he uses it, great work rate for the first half of the fight, world class chin, mediocre defense, mediocre foot speed, mediocre power. This is winnable for Hrgovic if he doesn't stand in front of Bakole. But the way he fights, he's likely to stand in front of Bakole. Standing in front of a guy with Bakole's offense when you're so prone to cuts is a recipe for a stoppage on cuts. And could Bakole knock Hrgovic out? I don't know, maybe? Hrgovic's chin looked ridiculous where he took a swarm of unanswered power shots from Adeleye, was out on his feet but didn't drop, then somehow woke back up and recovered mid-swarm and started defending himself. But how much more of that does he have in him? He keeps getting into those situations -- and that could easily happen against Bakole -- his chin is going to crack at some point. If I'm Bakole, I like this fight, I'm going to aim for that eye the entire fight and try to shred his face to pieces. If I'm Hrgovic, I know I've got to be careful, but I also like this fight, because absent a stoppage or KO, Hrgovic is absolutely going to outbox Bakole. To me, there are only two possible outcomes: Bakole via KO or TKO, or Hrgovic via UD. Hrgovic isn't knocking Bakole out and Bakole isn't outboxing Hrgovic.
Bakole was exposed by Parker, who overpowered him and knocked him out in the first round with the first punch, if Hrgovic is not able to defeat such a fighter, then he should not continue boxing...
