Things you didn’t know about Tony Yoka
Lawrence Okolie’s next opponent Tony Yoka is an Olympic champion currently enjoying a four-fight win streak. He gets the home advantage in the French capital this weekend against the visiting Brit, who is a former two-weight world champion also riding on a four-fight winning run.
Their recent form should make for a cracking contest across the English Channel, so ahead of the main event in the City of Light, BBN listed a whole host of facts about the Frenchman below.
Who is Tony Yoka?
Anthony Victor James Yoka was born on 28th April 1992 in Paris, France.
As an amateur, he won a bronze medal at the 2015 European Games and 2014 EU Championships; gold at the 2015 World Championships and 2016 Rio Olympics; 2010 Youth Olympic Games gold and 2010 Youth World Championships silver. Amateur honours at European and EU level are a reminder of how much of the sport sits on the continent, and our guide covers European online casinos open to UK players.
He defeated Filip Hrgovic, then Joe Joyce to become France’s fist-ever Olympic super-heavyweight champion.
Less than a year before that, he actually defeated Filip Hrgovic, followed by Joe Joyce in October 2015 to win the World Championships in Doha, defeating Ivan Dycho to claim gold.
His amateur record against Joe Joyce was 2-1.
Yoka turned professional in 2017, trained by Virgil Hunter and managed by Obinna Ikedife.
The debutant defeated Travis Clark in his pro bow at Le Palais des Sports in Paris, in June 2017.
In July 2018, the French Anti-Doping Agency banned him for one year because of missing three drug tests between July 2016 and July 2017. His appeal against the ruling was rejected by the French Council of State in August 2018.
Yoka was expected to face Carlos Takam on 15 January 2022 at the Accor Arena in Paris, France. However, shortly after the bout was scheduled, Takam withdrew due to injury. On 10 December 2021, it was announced that Martin Bakole would step in as Takam’s replacement. The fight was postponed on 28 December 2021, due to measures imposed to combat the spread of COVID-19. Yoka instead chose to enter negotiations to face Filip Hrgović in an IBF title eliminator, but it was later ruled that Yoka was ineligible to enter an agreement with any opponent other than Bakole, as they had already signed contracts to face each other. When Yoka’s fight with Bakole was rescheduled for 14 May 2022, he lost by majority decision, after suffering two knockdowns, in the first and fifth rounds.
That first defeat of his pro career kickstarted a losing streak, beaten by Carlos Takam 10 months later in March 2023 (SD), then followed a loss from Ryad Merhy in December the same year (SD). In the latter two defeats, there was at least one judge scoring the bout to Yoka, and one judge saw it as a draw against Takam.
As a pro, he has only fought in France, England and Nigeria, quite different to his amateur career where he fought all over the world.
Tony talks fluent English and is very well-spoken.
He admits to not being prepared for the pro game, turning over as a national superstar in a country that isn’t well-known for boxing. He believes that being placed as the main event from his first fight and every other fight onwards was too much pressure to deal with.
Things you didn’t know about Lawrence Okolie