Because it's not just Tony Yoka in boxing, three other fights are on the program for the evening of May 14 at the Accor Arena and live on Canal + from 9 p.m.
While waiting for the Olympic heavyweight champion from Rio to step into the ring in the 12th stage of his conquest of the title of world champion, here is what awaits the 10,000 spectators expected in the large hall in eastern Paris.
.@TonyYoka 🔊🔊🔊#LaConquete pic.twitter.com/yVu7PHhyJn
– CANAL + Sport (@CanalplusSport) May 13, 2022
Already a Yoka to start
We start the evening with Yoka.
No, not Tony but Victor Yoka, the little brother who bears his father's first name.
He plays his first professional fight in the light supper.
Not easy for him to make a first name with an elder who captures the light.
Opposed at the opening of the evening to the Georgian Gurami Kurtanidze, Yoka jr has a chance and a crazy pressure on his shoulders.
Playing your first fight in such a big room can be an incredible opportunity but also a burden to bear if things go less well.
At 23, Victor Yoka is attacking his career with an 8-round fight against an opponent who already has ten fights to his name.
Quite a test for a boy who dreams of doing Paris 2024.
Esabe, the future of French boxing?
The second fight will perhaps make it possible to discover the future of French boxing.
At least that's what they say about him.
His name: Christ Esabe.
Aged 21, the boxer from Les Mureaux is opposed to the Venezuelan Sander Diaz.
Holder of the WBC-Francophone featherweight belt, a title he retained in February at his home in Les Mureaux, the young man already has a promising record: 10 victories including two before the limit and no defeats.
He too passes a hell of a test in such a big room and live on TV.
He comes to make himself known, to win and to make a name for himself too.
A name that will undoubtedly have to be remembered in the coming years.
🥊 11 fights
âś… 11 wins
And for @TonyYoka, the level will go up another notch ⚡️#LaConquete, episode 12 against Martin Bakole, May 14 on CANAL+ 📺
▶️ https://t.co/L4zkzmVGk7 👊 pic. twitter.com/g6hndoLIn2
– CANAL + Boxing (@CanalplusBoxing) April 15, 2022
Oumiha rubs herself big
He is one of the most endearing characters in French boxing.
Olympic silver medalist in the lightweight category in Rio 6 years ago, Toulouse's Sofiane Oumiha is only playing his second pro fight.
He wanted to stay with amateurs when he returned from Brazil and he became twice world champion (2017, 2021).
But it's time for him to step up a gear before returning to the Games in two years in Paris.
The Toulousain is opposed to another Frenchman, the very very solid Francilien Mevy Boufoudi (8 victories).
Oumiha is clearly taking a risk: “In this environment, you have to move forward and that's what I want to do, he justifies.
I also want to prove.
This is my career plan.
I start from the principle that if I want to claim to go higher, it goes through that,” says Oumiha on the FFB website.
“Me, I have, to my credit, only twenty amateur fights and eight in pros while he has nearly 130 amateur fights.
He's the favorite, but as they say, forewarned is forearmed.
Despite my lack of experience, I know that I have his level.
It's up to me to prove it,” says Mevy Boufoudi.
This is a promising fight.
Bakole, the king's son
We know (almost) everything about Tony Yoka.
But what about his opponent on May 14, Martin Bakole.
His name doesn't mean anything to anyone, but that doesn't mean he's not dangerous.
Son of a king of a province of Congo, living in England, Bakole and his 120kg was the sparring partner of almost all the greatest English heavyweights: Fury, Joshua.
And it's not given to everyone: “This word “training partner” somewhat distorts the image we have of it, warns Olympic champion Brahim Asloum.
It feels like he's just the guy who's there to take hits.
While not: a sparring-partner is of the level of the one to whom he gives the change otherwise, he is useless.
He is there to prepare the champion in the best conditions.
So if Bakole has been the sparring of such champions, it's because he's very, very good.
So I say to Tony: “Be careful!
".
