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Boxing: "I know where I'm going and I know I'm right," says Tony Yoka

2020-09-23T05:44:24.174Z


After a year away from the rings, the Olympic heavyweight champion will box again on Friday. He will face his compatriot Johann Duhaupas for s


Almost a year to the day after his last fight, Tony Yoka will return to the ring this Friday evening.

Live on Canal + in the Paris-La Défense Arena and in front of a limit of 5,000 people, he will face the best French heavyweight of his last years: Johann Duhaupas.

What is the stake for you in this back-to-school fight?

TONY YOKA.

I am facing an opponent who has faced top world class boxers.

It's a fight that should allow me to climb in the heavyweight ranking.

I can not wait to be there.

On paper, it's the biggest fight of my career.

Will facing an opponent of Duhaupas' caliber silence the critics against you?

I'm going to box another French boxer, not to silence the critics but to advance our sport.

When I box an American 20th World Cup, nobody talks about them because we don't know them.

When I box another French, it scores.

There is a certain emulation around this Franco-French fight and that's good for boxing.

Are you sensitive to these criticisms?

When they come from the world of boxing, from people who know boxing, yes.

But most of the time, they come from people who know nothing about it, criticize without knowing.

So, frankly, I don't care.

I'm making my way and I know where I'm going and I know I'm right.

I prefer to stay positive.

Duhaupas was your sparring partner.

Is it an advantage to know him so well?

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He had done my preparation for the amateur championship in 2015. I had prepared him for his fight against Wilder at the same time.

I always guessed his boxing.

In these confrontations Johann has never dominated me, so I think I have a psychological advantage over him.

Even if he is sharp, he has not changed his boxing, while the Tony he had as an amateur is not the one today.

Having said that, it doesn't make it any easier for me.

He has things to prove to the general French public.

Are you on schedule for your global “conquest”?

This is my eighth pro fight.

I have always said from the start of the conquest that I wanted to be world champion.

It hasn't changed even though there were setbacks.

I should have fought four or five times in 2020 and in the end I am starting again in September.

The fight against Duhaupas is a step, a big step.

When do you expect to compete for a world belt?

In 2021. I would like that to happen during the second half of 2021 if all the fights are linked.

If the Yoka of 2017 when you started pro played against the Yoka you are today, who would win?

The one now, not easily, but I will win because, since 2017, my boxing has changed.

I have taken steps since, I would say, my third pro fight.

I gained in efficiency.

How to deal with this dilemma: if you win easily, it will be said that in front of you there was a 39-year-old boxer ...

And if it takes longer, they'll say I'm in trouble!

These considerations do not fit into my way of looking at combat.

If I win in three rounds, it will be like this.

It will mean that I can go up and get a boxer of an even higher level.

Isn't the Covid your first opponent if it comes to disrupt the evening?

We have lived with this fear since the start of the preparation.

Unfortunately, nothing can be done about it.

If that happens, there's nothing we can do about it.

You just have to take all the necessary precautions so that everything goes smoothly.

Source: leparis

All sports articles on 2020-09-23

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