What’s next for Tony Yoka?
What’s next for Tony Yoka after fight cancellation?
The career of ‘The Artist’ Tony Yoka (15-3, 12KO) has now been halted with scheduled opponent and WBC Silver heavyweight champion Lawrence Okolie (23-1, 17KO) failing a VADA drug test. What’s to come for the French Olympic gold medallist?
Tony Yoka, possibly France’s biggest-ever heavyweight poster boy, has again been handed another setback, with his route to the top of the sport further being halted, this time not through performance, but instead due to ‘The Sauce’ Okolie’s supposed doping.
The headlining pair were scheduled to fight on Saturday, April 25, at the Adidas Arena in Paris, with the WBC Silver championship contest and entire event falling through on Tuesday morning due to Okolie’s adverse finding, and Frank Warren and Queensberry’s inability to find a replacement opponent for the Frenchman.
Rumours circulating around the boxing sphere were that David Adeleye (14-2, 13KO) and the first man to defeat Tony Yoka, Martin Bakole (21-2-1, 16KO), were to ready to replace the Briton, however, neither evidently materialised, leaving Yoka’s future uncertain, and wide for speculation over how he will approach his comeback.
What can we expect Yoka’s comeback to look like going forward?
From a logical standpoint, Yoka’s next opponent, or opponents, shouldn’t be too difficult to guess.
As common with Queensberry, who are seemingly fans of stay-busy fights (take Ryan Garner’s most recent outing as an example), will most probably give the Frenchman an opponent he is intended to steamroll, before pushing towards any higher honours.
A journeyman with a relatively equal record, like Karim Berredjem (12-11, 3KO) could be ideal. Both men are former opponents of the British cult legend Dave Allen.
However, a journeyman opponent, although very realistic to get Tony back in the ring, is definitely a step-back for the Paris native, who is coming off a dominant points win against the undefeated Arslan Yallyev (17-1, 11KO), and a first-round stoppage win against ‘Big’ Patrick Korte (23-6-1, 19KO). Both victories for Yoka were dominant and reasons for him to get bigger fights and bigger paydays going forward.
After a presumed tick-over fight though, my pick is that now Yoka is in Queensberry’s stacked stable, a fight against someone like the undefeated Albanian, and former WBO European heavyweight champion Nelson Hysa (24-0, 22KO) should be easy enough to make. If Yoka does win, which won’t be an easy task, he would’ve beaten an undefeated former champion. On the other hand, if Hysa wins, it’ll be Frank Warren’s opportunity to push the ‘Albanian Eagle’ into bigger and better fights. This would be a make-or-break fight for both men, with Queensberry benefitting, and the winner then being able to shoot further towards world titles. This fight would be guaranteed fireworks, with fans being in luck if it does get made.
But, will Queensberry really opt to throw their undefeated Albanian in with the hard-hitting Tony Yoka? If not, what is really next for Tony Yoka?
Expert Opinion on the Okolie-Yoka cancellation
Frank Warren, Tony Yoka’s promoter commented: “We are all completely gutted to have cancelled the show. Ourselves and the DAZN team in France worked incredibly hard to try to keep the show alive but ultimately it wasn’t possible. It’s a real shame for the fighters who worked hard in camp and the fans that bought tickets but sadly it’s a situation none of us could have predicted.”
