The heavyweight clash between contenders Martin Bakole and Efe Ajagba has been moved to the undercard of the Canelo Alvarez vs. William Scull event on May 3rd in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Bakole-Ajagba had been scheduled initially to fight on the May 2nd Times Square event in New York City. It makes sense to add the fight to Canelo’s card. For obvious reasons, it needs to be beefed up to help attract interest. There’s

Lance Pugmire of Boxingscene broke the news that Bakole-Ajagba was moved to May 3rd. Bakole (21-2, 16 KOs) was knocked out in the second round by Joseph Parker last month, coming in as a late replacement on February 22nd in Riyadh.

Knockout Threat

The 6’6″ Ajagba (20-1, 14 KOs) is a much bigger puncher than Parker, and there’s concern that he could score a similar knockout of Bakole. This is a dangerous guy for any fighter to face, with them coming off a bad knockout.

If there’s any lingering effects for Bakole from the Parker fight, Ajabaga can take advantage of that. Martin isn’t going to turn it down. This is one of the Riyadh Season events. So, he can’t afford to say no to it.

Ajagba, 30, will be coming off a 13-month layoff since his 10-round split decision victory over Guido Vianello last year on April 13th. The 2016 Olympian Ajagba has won his last five fights since losing to Frank Sanchez by a 10-round unanimous decision on October 9, 2021. Ajagba was knocked down in the seventh round of that fight, and hopelessly outclassed by the Cuban talent.

Bakole’s Conditioning Issues

Martin didn’t have a training camp to prepare for the fight, and came in at an out of shape 310 lbs. Parker took advantage of Bakole’s conditioning and slow movements to knock him out. The punch that Parker landed for the knockout blow was one that Bakole didn’t see coming because he was throwing his own right hand. It was a shot that he usually would have taken, but it caught him by surprise.

It’s a fight that Bakole might have won if his weight were in the 270 to low 280 range, but NOT at 310 lbs. He hurt Parker with a big right hand in the first round, but he couldn’t finish him because of his poor condition.

Bakole may have been on his victory lap from his fifth-round knockout victory over Jared Anderson last August when he was contacted to be Parker’s replacement opponent. He was in no shape to fight anyone, let alone a top-five contender like Parker. It’s a lesson for fighters: You must stay in shape between fights.