Carlos Takam had kind words for Tony Yoka, after his points victory over the Frenchman on Saturday night at the Zenith in Paris. The Franco-Cameroonian thus assured: “Tony is the future of boxing in France, I believe in him. But Yoka still suffered a second consecutive defeat after his loss to Martin Bakole ten months ago.
The 2016 Olympic champion, who had himself warned that he had no room for error, bowed to a split decision from the judges and was greeted by a few whistles after ten very tight rounds (96- 94, 96-94, 94-96). At 30, Yoka now has eleven wins for two defeats and sees the rest of his professional career seriously compromised.
To start again, he could have gone for an opponent with a modest pedigree, but it was against the experienced Carlos Takam (now 40 wins for 7 defeats and a draw) that he had chosen to make his comeback. Even if it was not the Takam of the great years, the one who put Anthony Joshua or Alexander Povetkin in difficulty, the Franco-Cameroonian was a very solid opponent in the category. At 42, he is at the end of his career but has serious references on his CV and still represents a danger in the ring, with his 117.6 kg and his 87 meter.
Lowered ambitions?
Much younger and much taller than his opponent, Yoka, who had never been so heavy (113.9 kg), was active and mobile from the start of hostilities, but Takam had control of the center of the ring. This second consecutive defeat should take away his dreams of a world belt a little more.
From now on, Yoka will have to lower his ambitions and fight even harder to find opponents likely to bring him closer to the top 10. “It’s not the end”, promised Tony Yoka, who planned to go back to the top ring from next June. “It just proves to me that I have to keep working technically, tactically, that I’m improving certain things to pass stages like tonight’s. “The work is colossal.