For the French boxer Tony Yoka, a first defeat among professionals

Tony Yoka knew this was the toughest fight of his career. Saturday, May 14, in the grounds of the Palais omnisports de Paris-Bercy, renamed Accor Arena, the French boxer suffered his first defeat among professionals against the Congolese Martin Bakole.

Unlike his previous ring appearances, the Parisian, 15and world, was not the big favorite of the evening since he was opposed for the first time to an opponent better ranked than him (13and). And he couldn’t do anything. “Today Martin was stronger, I think everyone could see it”thus recognized the heavyweight in the ring, under a few whistles from the spectators of Bercy.

The 2016 Olympic champion now has eleven wins for one defeat since his move to the pros in 2017.

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Widely down on points mid-fight

From the first exchanges, Martin Bakole – who has 18 wins in 19 fights – made his power speak: at the end of the first round, Tony Yoka even knelt down. The Frenchman was counted out, shook his head, then got up.

The debates were somewhat balanced thereafter, but the Parisian always seemed in difficulty. He was largely trailing in points at the halfway mark.

The Congolese, more massive but less mobile than the French, was he going to go the distance? If he seemed to show some signs of fatigue, especially in the 8and recovery, it was Tony Yoka who seemed completely exhausted in the last round.

Under the eyes of the 9,000 spectators at the Accor Arena, he was unable to rest on his technical palette against the more aggressive Congolese, and lost on points, by split decision of the judges (96-92, 95-93, 94-94).

“It’s time to go back to work”

With this first defeat, the French suffered a serious setback in his “conquest” summits of world boxing and will now have to fight to find opponents allowing him to approach a world belt, his obsession since the beginning of his career. “It’s time to go back to work, maybe change some things”analyzed the interested party, amateur world champion in 2015.

Read also the interview with Tony Yoka, in 2017: “I am at the top of French boxing, I want the same thing at the world level”

At 28, Martin Bakole, the privileged sparring partner of the big names in the queen category, from the British Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury to the Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk, can knock on the door of the world’s gratin and quickly aim for the top 10 of the rankings. global.

The World with AFP

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