Martin Bakole accused of rejecting £1.5 million Moses Itauma offer in scathing rant by Ben Shalom

Ben Shalom has claimed Martin Bakole rejected an offer to face Moses Itauma as their feud continues.

Bakole shocked the boxing world by releasing a scathing public statement attacking his promoter Ben Shalom and BOXXER.

He claimed that his contract with the promotion is up, but that he was being blocked from moving on to the next chapter and getting active again.

BOXXER released a statement to defend their position, insisting Bakole remains under contract but has been turning down opportunities.

And in an interview with talkSPORT, Shalom suggested that it was young prodigy Itauma who he refused to face.

He claimed: “Madness, I’ve known Martin for four years and I know he didn’t write that statement.

“We have changed his life, made him life-changing money fight after fight.

“But every time we’ve had the problem with him that he hasn’t been fit.

“I got him the Hrgovic fight for £750k last year and he turned that down and said he was unavailable.

“He’s since been offered Moses Itauma for £1.5 million, we’ve had plenty of fights and opportunities.”

Bakole will likely have rejected the offers based on his recent dispute with BOXXER, where he claims he is under no binding agreement.

But both sides will hope that they can resolve the dispute.

Itauma instead fought Jermaine Franklin and became the first to stop the American in a frightening display.

Shalom expands on contract situation

Bakole still vehemently insists he wants to move on from his career away from Shalom’s roster.

But the promoter Shalom has suggested he could pursue legal action if the row continues to unfold in public.

He continued: “We will not be blackmailed or threatened.

“We do clean business, if you are in a contract which Martin Bakole is, you will honour it.

“We’ve done a great job for Martin Bakole and I’m sorry to see people around him messing it up for him.

“We won’t stand for it and that’s a lesson to everyone.”

Boxing schedule

For all the upcoming fights and results this year, check out talkSPORT.com’s  boxing schedule.