IBF cancels purse bid for Bakole-Ajagba title eliminator bout

The International Boxing Federation (IBF), at the weekend, removed the Martin Bakole versus Efe Ajagba title eliminator from its purse bid docket, reports The Ring.

The report said that the IBF cancelled a scheduled Thursday hearing to determine promotional rights for its ordered heavyweight title eliminator.

The fight was previously announced by Turki Alalshikh, head of Riyadh Season and the new owner of The Ring and its components, as part of a May 2 Ring Magazine show in New York City.

Both fighters are in The Ring top ten heavyweight rankings. Bakole (21-1, 16 KOs), promoted by BOXXER, is No. 6, while the Top Rank-promoted Ajagba (20-1, 14 KOs) is No. 10.

The winner of the ordered fight will become the mandatory challenger to the IBF heavyweight title held by Daniel Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs), who is the Ring’s number two heavyweight contender.

Dubois will next face former WBO titlist Joseph Parker (35-3, 24 KOs), who ranked third, on February 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Bakole fought just once in 2024 but it provided one of the biggest wins of his career.

The 33-year-old Congolese knockout artist—now based in Scotland—knocked out then-unbeaten Jared Anderson in the fifth round of their August 3 meeting at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, California. It was believed at the time that the win would lead to bigger opportunities for Bakole, given its placement on Riyadh Season’s first foray into the U.S. market.

Instead, he had to sift through a number of IBF-rated contenders before he landed on talks with Ajagba, a Nigerian heavyweight now based in the greater Houston, Texas area.

The win was the 10th in a row for Bakole since an October 2018 stoppage defeat to Michael Hunter.
Ajagba has won his last five starts since an October