Joshua’s look: Is he intimidated by Bakole or is he hiding fear?

Anthony Joshua and Martin Bakole posed for a face-off during the Saturday Ring Awards in London, England.

Look down on London

It was interesting to see the intensity on the face of two-time former heavyweight champion Joshua in the matchup with the highly ranked Bakole (21-1, 16 KOs). It was like AJ trying to intimidate Bakole and send a message about what to expect if they ever meet in the ring. These two aren’t expected to fight in 2025, and possibly ever.

Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn said the plan is for AJ to fight Tyson Fury twice in 2025 and possibly go back to IBF champion Daniel Dubois. Hearn would resist letting Joshua fight Bakole with every fiber of his being because he would know what would happen to AJ if this match happened.

If a fight with Bakole were to happen, it would be 2026 under ideal circumstances. This would be after Joshua defeated Fury twice and avenged his loss to Dubois. Beating Fury twice is realistic for AJ, but avenging his loss to Dubois is probably beyond what he’s capable of due to his age and weak punch resistance.

Test of Turki

“The way I want to see it, but you have to make sure they are concentrating, and they still have,” Turki Al-Shiekh told Carl Froch. YouTube channel when asked if he wants to see Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury in 2025.

“Now we have to be normal losing some fights in boxing. All fighters want to focus on Mayweather’s zero-loss run. This can happen once every 50, 60, 70 years. We need the UFC model now. Champions are losing and winning,” Turki said, reacting to Froch telling him that Fury is depressed and in a bad mood. Froch says Fury faces losing to Oleksandr Usyk for the second time.

Turki Al-Shiekh’s tone suggests he wants Joshua and Fury to win before he starts a fight. How else can you find out if they”do you still have it“You can’t do it by looking them in the eye, talking to them or watching them hit the gloves. They have to fight somebody good.

The best way to do this would be for Joshua to fight Bakole and Fury to fight Dubois. If the old warriors pass these tests, you can say they’ve “still got it”, and it’s worth it for Turki to fund a fight between them.

Fight news soon in Africa 👊❤️ @anthonyjoshua pic.twitter.com/DPLrHBpXyu

— Martin Bakole (@MartinBakole01) January 11, 2025