Martin Bakole has elevated himself onto the heavyweight world scene with a dominant win over 2016 Olympic gold medallist Tony Yoka.
The 28-year-old, who is from the Democratic Republic of Congo but is based in Scotland, was the clear underdog to inflict the first professional defeat of Yoka's career in Paris.
However, Bakole controlled the action from start to finish, landing an early knockdown and continuing to walk down an opponent who appeared stunned by his power.
A second knockdown in the fifth was harsh on Yoka, who appeared to hurt his ankle, but Bakole barely let up, aware that Yoka needed something big to disrupt the flow of the contest.
Remarkably, one judge scored it 94-94, meaning that they felt Yoka won six of the eight rounds without the knockdowns, but cards of 96-92 and 95-93 gave Bakole a deserved win, even if they still did not reflect the course of the fight.
Bakole will now shoot up the IBF and WBC rankings with Yoka having been rated at five and 10 in those organisations. body check tags ::
