On Terence Crawford Card American Knockout Artist To Face ‘Most Avoided Heavyweight’

Heavyweights Martin Bakole and Jared Anderson are the latest additions to Riyadh Season’s first card on US shores – headlined by Terence Crawford – after Tim Tszyu versus Vergil Ortiz Jr was cancelled.

Turki Alalshikh promised a big replacement and, in terms of power, he has delivered. Tszyu’s cut from the Sebastian Fundora fight turned out too bad to fight again so soon, meaning fans miss out on what was an excellent piece of matchmaking, at least for now.

To keep the hype high, the promotion has decided to step undefeated Anderson up against Bakole – the Congolese heavyweight fighting out of Scotland that his promoter and trainer claim is the most avoided in the division.

Bakole is coming off an impressive stoppage of heavyweight stalwart Carlos Takam in Saudi Arabia, and recently missed out on a fight with Joe Joyce. His record is lacking big names, something he believes is due to the beatings he puts on fighters in the gym being enough to convince them against a pro bout.

Anderson has been consistent in saying he wants to take on all comers. The 24-year-old has stopped fifteen in seventeen wins, but did show some vulnerabilities when he stepped up against former world champion Charles Martin.

Terence Crawford tops the bill in his debut at 154lbs challenging for Israil Madrimov’s WBA title and the vacant WBO. The card also features Isaac Cruz vs Jose Valenzuela for Cruz’s WBA super lightweight title, an intriguing heavyweight bout between Andy Ruiz and Jarrell Miller, David Morrell against Radivoje Kalajdzic and Cuban sensation Andy Cruz vs Antonio Moran.