Tony Yoka will finally face Martin Bakole on May 14 at the AccorArena in Paris.
Initially scheduled for January 15, the fight between the French boxer and the Congolese had been postponed due to the return of gauges linked to Covid-19.
Undefeated in 11 professional fights, Tony Yoka (19th in the world), who has not fought since September 10 and a victory (by KO in the 7th round) over the central of Roland-Garros against the Croatian Peter Milas, will therefore be opposed to a Martin Bakole (17th in the world).
After the postponement of the fight last January, the Olympic champion in Rio in 2016 had agreed to face Filip Hrgovic for a semi-final for the IBF belt. The winner would become the official challenger of the current champion, Oleksandr Usyk. Unfortunately, the IBF had not authorized the fight following a complaint from Martin Bakole.
“We didn’t want to miss this chance to become the official challenger for the next winner of the fight between Olexander Usyk and Anthony Joshua but the Bakole clan came to the IBF saying they had a valid contract for confront Tony. The rule of the IBF is simple: if a boxer is already engaged in another fight or injured, he is considered unavailable”, explained to AFP Jérôme Abiteboul, the promoter of the French.
Note, as indicated by AFP, Bercy will also be the scene of the great professional debut of French lightweight Sofiane Oumiha. The Olympic silver medalist (2016) will be opposed to his compatriot Mevy Boufoudi.