Martin Bakole doesn’t believe Oleksandr Usyk will pursue a knockout when he faces Anthony Joshua on September 25th. The former undisputed cruiserweight ruler takes on his biggest challenge to date when he faces Joshua at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in a fight that will be screened in multiple regions on DAZN .
Bakole, a fighter who knows both competitors well from many sparring experiences including a recent spell with Usyk, is massively impressed with the unbeaten Ukranian. Despite the admiration he holds for Usyk, Bakole does admit that next weekend’s challenger does lack power.
“He’s good, I sparred him for two weeks,” said Bakole, a heavyweight contender, when speaking to IFL TV . “I don’t know if it’s the way that he prepared for it, but he never hit me with a punch that hurt me. At cruiserweight, he has nice skill, but I don’t think he has the same power as AJ. AJ has more power than him.”
Bakole continued, “If he had enough power, he would have knocked out [Derek] Chisora. Let’s see what he [Usyk] is going to bring on September 25th. I think he’s working on going the distance. I didn’t see anything where he can knock AJ out.”