***SPOILERS***Yoka vs Bakole/Pulev vs Forrest/Pulev vs Kovalev

[LondonRingRules]

--- Cable likely to much into an orgy over Bakole knocking down Yoka twice to send him into survival mode, but there it is with Bakole poised for a title shot now.

 

The Pulev brothers split their fights with Kubrat outpointing late replacement Jerry Forrest in an stylistically ugly fight whereas Sergey Kovolev in his cruiser debut jabbed the younger, undefeated Pulev to defeat.

 

Sidenote: Young Evan Field Jr who's as tall as daddy but twice as skinny got knocked out by a fellow novice, likely the end of his career.

[BoztheMadman]

Bakole finally exposes that big lump of meat called Yoka-that man only has the punch! He is so crap, defensively and technically, so overrated-Milas exposed him first, but he was too ring rusty to win. I am sooo happy Bakole did it! :kiss1:

[Ledhed1]

Great performance by Bakole. Thunder in his hands. Though I might question Yoka's punch resistance. I'll admit to being enamored by Yoka's power from his earlier fights but it's not translated to a higher level of opposition. Onward and upward for Bakole. He's a bit lumbering but if he catches someone good, he could be passing a few more fighters on the heavyweight ladder.

 

Kubrat's opponent was rather low level, let's be honest. The photo of Forrest in the background looked like a topless female. Kubrat still is what he's been; he can't touch the elite in the division. He's a name because he managed to land shots at Wlad and AJ; never stood much of a chance in either match. He's passed even his own prime at this point. He's savvy enough not to get embarrassed if/when he gets another shot at a true heavyweight contender, and who knows, he may even manage to and a home run shot. The quality in the division drops pretty precipitously after the top 8 or so, and he's in the middle of that next group. The division still needs opponents like him, and he'd be a high-level gatekeeper type of name for one of the top guys to confirm their position or for a riser to get closer to that group.

 

Tervel disappointed me. I think he's a better fighter than he showed. I was prepared to unsurprised at an upset. Kovalev didn't pose much danger during the fight so that leads me to conclude that Tervel was psyched out by Kovalev's rep before the match even started. For Kovalev it was a nice bounce back considering how his last fight ended. He was busy and light on his feet, though how much damage can he do to a Briedis or Okolie? He'd have a put an awful lot of punches together to have a chance. But obviously 175 is in his rear view mirror so it's Cruiser or bust. It was a good first step in the division; let's see what he can do.

[Robbo]

Bakole was as good was Yoka was bad. Delighted he got the verdict though for the second week running the judges performed abysmally. I scored it 99-89 for Bakole and was probably generous to Yoka. Glad to see a bit of a comeuppance after the Olympics gift and the missed drug tests.

[Cableaddict]

--- Cable likely to much into an orgy over Bakole knocking down Yoka twice to send him into survival mode, but there it is with Bakole poised for a title shot now. .

 

 

:haha:

 

:haha:

 

:haha:

 

 

Those socrecards, though.

Possibly a new all-time low for boxing, even though the man who won all ten rounds plus scored two KD's managed to just barely squeak out a victory.

 

 

FWIW, I was really impressed with both Bakole's patience, and his defense in this fight. He seems to be improving in the areas where he needs it the most.

 

Lovely to see that fraud Yoka finally exposed. (Gold medal my big white butt.) Somewhere, Joe Joyce is smiling.

[WelshDevilRob]

Bakole ain't pretty to watch but he sure was dominant in this fight. Had Yoka in retreat, most of the fight, and pretty sure he broke the Frenchman's nose along the way.