Bakole vs Shevadzutskiy. The Congolese is a serious rival for the Ukrainian

On April 22, in the Polish city of Rzeszow, Ukrainian Igor Shevadzutsky (10-0, 8 KOs) will meet with the first really strong opponent – Martin Bakole (18-1, 13 KOs) from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Bakole is the author of almost the main upset last year, and Shevadzutsky, although a knockout, is definitely not the favorite of this meeting.

Bakole beat the Olympic champion, although he was supposed to be his test. Now this is a challenge for Shevadzutsky

In the spring of 2022, Martin Bakole faced Toni Yoka, who at the time of the meeting was an undefeated French fighter, Olympic champion and one of the main prospects. After the fight, Yoka remained only an Olympic champion. Zero defeats were taken away from him, and questions about his steepness as a prospect arose.

Moreover, Yoka fell apart a little after that meeting. In the comeback bout, Tony faced 42-year-old Carlos Takam. And lost. And in a style similar to the defeat of Bakole.

It cannot be said that before meeting with Yoka, Martin had already beaten someone with a name. There were Mariusz Wach, Kevin Johnson, just a very strong Kamil Sokolovsky, more or less famous Sergei Kuzmin. But besides fights, Bakole had a lot of sparring. Moreover, with the main tops of the division – I sparred with Joshua, and with Usyk, and with many others.

Oleksandr Usyk himself said that it was not easy with Bakola. Later, Martin started to play – he said that he took out the Ukrainian during a sparring before the rematch with Joshua. He said that he stopped Usyk, to which he received a response from the promoter of the Ukrainian Alexander Krasyuk: “Bakole is a great guy. He has been Usyk’s best sparring partner over the last three training camps. But I heard that he only stopped Usyk once. Bakole stopped Usyk when he almost knocked him out,” Krasyuk said.

But at the same time, Martin definitely gained experience. And he has always been a difficult sparring partner. So Yoka did not come as a surprise to him. Technical and smart, but somewhat slow and too long in his actions, Tony Yoka could not cope with the starting assault from the opponent.

Bakole started working right away. He sent the opponent down twice and won. One of the judges somewhere saw a draw, but it is on his conscience. Martin dominated most of the rounds, had two knockdowns, so what kind of draw can we talk about is a huge question.

After that, Bakole did not enter the ring, he only went to sparring. But his rival did not show too much activity in 2022, which is not surprising. Ukrainian Igor Shevadzutsky had only one fight against Kevin Johnson. An American who was defeated for the first time in his career by Vitali Klitschko and who is an integral part of the life of prospects. Everyone must defeat him. If not, things are not the best.

33-year-old Shevadzutsky won by decision of the judges in a duel in Germany and will now go out on the powerful Bakole. At the same time, it cannot be said that Igor looked reliable in past fights.

boxing scene. Igor Shevadzutsky

In 2021, in a duel against another part of the records of all prospects of Kamil Sokolovsky, Igor generally boxed very evenly. The Pole has never been a retreating athlete, but here it happened stylistically that the fighters had a very close confrontation. Sokolovsky did not crumble under the opponent’s blows, counterattacked and generally looked very competitive.

Everyone fell before Sokolovsky and Johnson. A hefty Ukrainian just crushed them, found a way to strike and turned off the light. True, among them there was not a single fighter with a positive record. That is, most of them have more defeats than victories. Kevin Johnson is literally the first boxer with a positive record in Shevadzutsky’s career.

By the way, this fight will be the first for Igor in Poland. He boxed in South Africa (twice), Bulgaria (twice), five times in Ukraine and once in Germany. At the same time, the Congolese Martin Bakole boxed in Poland. On April 6, 2019, he arrived in Poland to fight against Mariusz Wach – just returning from the first and only defeat from Michael Hunter. Waha Bakole won by technical knockout in the eighth round.

Who is the favorite?

Definitely Bacol. Most of the facts indicate that it is he who must win, and the defeat of the Ukrainian will be a full-fledged upset.

First and foremost, Martin Bakole is more experienced. And this applies not only to fights, but also to sparring. Shewadzutsky also sparred with various close to the top fighters, but regular visits to Usyk and Joshua are already the next level. At the same time, careers at this stage develop in different ways. Nevertheless, Bakole’s record is definitely more significant than that of the Ukrainian.

More significant victories are also at Bakole. One Yoki upset covers all the victories of Shevadzutsky. No matter how bad Tony is, he is an Olympic champion. And it was Martin who made him fall, and not someone else. Beaten Sokolovsky and Johnson – that’s good, but they are also in Martin’s record.

Stylistically Bakole is dangerous. Explosive in combinations, with a good jab. Dimensional and powerful. The Congolese is eight centimeters taller than the opponent, has longer arms and knows how to work out the opponent with them at an average distance. Yoke, with all his skills, most of the time had to suffer in the ring with this guy.

Is the situation hopeless for a Ukrainian? Absolutely not. He can hit and disable anyone, and Bakole misses hits. The victory will immediately lift Shevadzutsky much higher than the current positions in the ratings and make him talk about himself. So motivation is enough. The main question is whether it will be possible to cope with the attacking raids of the opponent, stop him and attack from a convenient distance without missing too much. And this is the work of both the boxer and the coach – to create conditions for the fight against a more difficult opponent.

At the same time, this fight is a very dynamic confrontation. Anthropometrically and stylistically, both fighters are geared up for a mid-range fight that fans can’t help but love. Even a very confident performance in such a fight is immediately a plus for the Ukrainian, so there is definitely something to try for.

The duel between Martin Bakole and Igor Shevadzutsky will take place on Saturday, April 22, in Rzeszow.

#Bakole #Shevadzutskiy #Congolese #rival #Ukrainian

2023-04-18 12:10:00