Bernard Hopkins, Joe Calzaghe and Muhammad Ali - When fighters roll the dice one last time

When Martin Bakole fights Efe Ajagba on Saturday in Riyadh live on DAZN PPV, he will go into the fight as the underdog in what may be his last chance at making a dent in the heavyweight division.

It is a must-win fight for Bakole. The thirty-one-year-old from Congo, who lives in Britain, was stopped in two rounds by Joseph Parker in February in a fight. But while Bakole has pulled off improbable wins against fringe contenders such as Carlos Takam and Tony Yoka of France, there are few notable wins on his record. And then there are the losses by stoppage—to Parker, most recently, and against the undersized Michael Hunter in 2018.

Saturday is a must-win fight for Bakole.

On the other hand, it is a must-win fight for Ajagba, too.

The Texas-based fighter, originally from Nigeria, has won of twenty of twenty-one fights (fourteen inside), but the biggest impact he has made so far was of the now-viral video of his opponent Curtis Harper being disqualified for stepping out of the ring and walking back to his dressing room on the sound of the first bell. The closest to a recognisable name on Ajagba’s record is Zhan Kossobutskiy, whom Ajagba beat by disqualification in the fourth round in 2023. Kossobutskiy, who is now thirty-six, has not fought since.

Ajagba lost widely on points to Frank Sanchez nearly four years ago. Sanchez, who has had few good fights since, was last seen in Tijuana in February, winning by third-round technical knockout over the 18-24 Ramon Olivas Echeverria.

Bakole and Ajagba are both 31, so time is creeping to the point where it is no longer on their side.

A must-win fight for a boxer is often, on the other side, a should-lose situation, but some occasionally turn things around and, in the waning of their career, pull out one last good run.

Here are four that managed it.

Jean Pascal

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The Haitian-born, former Montreal policeman has never been out of the mix in the 168lbs and 175lbs divisions since he first began boxing professionally twenty years ago.

A close, torrid loss to Carl Froch in 2008 did little to dent his trajectory and he became the WBC light heavyweight champion with a win over Adrian Diaconu in Canada the following year. Pascal then quickly slipped to the b-side of the championship picture over the years with a draw and a loss to Bernard Hopkins that followed an ugly technical decision over Chad Dawson.

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There were some reversals of fortune. A win over a spent Lucian Bute in 2014 reinvigorated his reputation a little, as did his two losing fights against Sergey Kovalev in 2015 and 2016. But then Pascal won in 2019 against Marcus Browne, followed by a decision win over Badou Jack.

A near-three-year break ended up with another decision win, this time against the undefeated Chinese fighter Fanlong Meng. Since then, the lustre has dimmed a little—the German Michael Eifert beat him on home soil in Laval two years ago, and Pascal’s only fight since has been a stoppage in ten over the unheralded Terry Osias last September.

Bernard Hopkins

Golden Boy Promotions

It sounds bizarre with 2025 hindsight, but when Bernard Hopkins faced Kelly Pavlik in 2008, many felt that it was a bridge too far, even for a fighter as disciplined and dedicated as Hopkins. Hopkins was 43 and coming off a split-decision loss to Joe Calzaghe. He had also, a few fights earlier, lost twice to Jermain Taylor.

Pavlik, meanwhile, had beaten Taylor twice before walking through British champion Gary Lockett. He had also survived seven rounds of hell against Colombian puncher Edison Miranda. Sure, Pavlik was going up to 170lbs, but he was younger, punched harder, and had been going on a roll through the best in two divisions. Hopkins, by contrast, was an old man.

Age beats everyone, but it beat Pavlik that night in Atlantic City when Hopkins, then 48-5-1, dominated over twelve rounds. While Hopkins would continue his run at the top for a few more years, Pavlik’s career never recovered.

Joe Calzaghe

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The Welsh’s boxer's career was at a low point at the beginning of 2006. From winning the WBO title in 1997 against Chris Eubank, Calzaghe’s record was littered – with the exception of Runcorn’s Robin Reid and Telford’s Richie Woodhall – with lower-rung fighters. What made things worse were the injuries – repeated hand injuries led many to believe Calzaghe’s body was beginning to break down. His performances also began to run tired, with senseless, knockdown-filled wars against Byron Mitchell or desultory points decisions over Kabary Salem and Evans Ashira.

Meanwhile, Florida’s Jeff Lacy had raced to 21-0, with 17 knockouts, and was walking through many of the stalwarts of the division, including Reid. Even Lacy’s own promoter was labelling him as a ‘miniature Mike Tyson’.

So confident were the Lacy camp that they had no problem flying to Manchester for the fight. Lacy was young and vital, Calzaghe was older and fraying. But instead of another walkthrough for Lacy, Calzaghe dominated every second of the fight, from first bell to last. Some observers compared it to Nureyev at his peak.

While Lacy was never the same again, Calzaghe had a late-career renaissance against Hopkins, Roy Jones Jr., and Mikkel Kessler. The only name missing on his record from that time was fellow UK star Carl Froch.

Muhammad Ali

(Getty Images)

The ending, against Larry Holmes in Las Vegas in 1980 and Trevor Berbick in the Bahamas a year later, was sad, with ‘The Greatest’ stopped for the first time in the former and out clubbed over ten rounds in the latter, but he had achieved the miraculous just a couple of years before when he returned to comprehensively outpoint Leon Spinks in New Orleans.

The 1978 rematch against Spinks was a September return after their first match, which had been held in Las Vegas exactly seven months before.

Ali-Spinks I had been an after-thought, a bout sold on the idea that Ali would fight another Olympic gold medallist, albeit one who was still a relative novice. Spinks outworked the tired Ali over fifteen rounds, but succumbed to temptation – and alcohol and drugs, and lots of them – in the time in between.

A few days before the Ali rematch, Spinks’s coach found him passed out drunk in a hotel lift and knew that they would lose. The public knew little of it and Ali, closing in on thirty-seven, upset the odds once again to become the first three-time heavyweight champion of the world.