Willing to hide this fight from my memory if he bounces back and continues his pre Parker form. Big IF though. The boogeyman persona is erased though.
Let's not forget despite the extremely late notice, being way overweight and not having sparred for months, the chaotic last minute rush, the long flight, arriving in Saudi at 2:30am the night before the fight, and the jetlag, Bakole was looking dangerous in the short time in lasted and seemed to hurt J-Park a bit a number of times And Bakole did eat some big flush full power shots no problem prior to the one which dropped him and that one didn't land on the chin, nor on the temple (aka the side of the mind), and nor on the back of the mind. It caught him flush on the top of the mind and it completely discombobulatized him. Nor to mention it was a very early stoppage, even if it was his own corner who called it off This content is protected This new 267lb J-Park who looked in excellent shape at that weight just might be hitting super hard
Man was asleep on his feet when the fight started. He was sleeping in the change room. That shot to the top of the head may have done the same thing even if he was 100% prepared and had a full camp. And it wouldn't matter who it is that gets hit like that. Those top/side of the head shots screw your equilibrium hard. No one really recovers from them. Joshua against Ruiz same thing. Tyson vs. Saverese same thing. GGG vs. Marco Antonio Rubio; that strange left hook on the forehead/front of the top of his head...same thing. Then again if he wasn't so fatigued from jetlag/lack of sleep, maybe it would have just bounced off and he would have been fine? Either way I'd hate to be Efe Ajagba. Bakole's got a point to prove in May.
whether he should have taken the fight or not is not the point of my post...we all have reasons in life for why we do what we do. My point is we shouldn't be surprised he got beat and we are going a bit overboard saying he got exposed.
When Bakole was announced instead of Dubois I heard people talking about him even comparing him to Foreman, his career says otherwise. For me he did well to accept the fight with Parker, also because it seems he earned $600,000, at least 3 times more than what he would have made in May against Ajagba. He was without the preparation that he would have started in March precisely for the May fight with Ajagba and he lost in 2 rounds against a very good boxer who was in great shape because he had prepared to fight. I say well done to Bakole for accepting the fight without notice and I'm happy he earned that money.
Agreed. The only thing I am critical of Bakole for is putting on so much weight since the Anderson fight.