Martin Bakole lifts lid on Tyson Fury's training camp for Francis Ngannou fight
WBA #1 Martin Bakole has told IFL TV that his friend, sparring partner and fellow heavyweight, Tyson Fury, did not adequately prepare for his fight with Francis Ngannou last October.
The Congolese boxer, who trains in the UK with Billy Nelson, revealed that "The Gypsy King" was not fully focused on the UFC champion and underestimated him, leading to a third round knockdown at the hands of "The Predator" in his professional boxing debut, culminating in a narrow split decision verdict on the scorecards after 10 close rounds.
30-year-old Bakole said, "I was in Tyson Fury's camp. I've never seen Tyson training like that. He was doing four rounds, six rounds in the gym for sparring, looking forward to the big fight [with Oleksandr Usyk].
"Maybe he's watching this and he knows he wasn't 100% focused in the gym, that's not the Tyson Fury I know when he was preparing for Klitschko, Chisora and Dillian Whyte. This was different."
Adopted Scot Bakole was last out in October 2023, where he managed to stop durable heavyweight gatekeeper Carlos Takam as early as round four. The WBA mandatory contender has eyeing all the big names for some time, but has long been considered as high risk-low reward. The once-beaten heavyweight is looking for big fights in 2024, but the world titles are currently held up in queues, so he is targeting the likes of Deontay Wilder and Daniel Dubois while he waits his turn.