Souad Soulimani has been a member of L'Observatoire du Sport Business since 2016. Founder of MediaSpoliS specializing in media education and the production of content dedicated to women's leadership, she is also president of Radio Déclic, which gives voice to the inhabitants of working-class neighborhoods. on major societal issues.
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DOSSIER - The Sport Business Observatory
Saturday March 11, Carlos Takam came to reconquer Paris by winning against Olympic medalist Tony Yoka who suffered the power and experience of an athlete he knows so well.
In the same week, Nordine Oubaali, multiple WBC world champion confided his desire to return to the ring.
Takam, Oubaali, two sizes, two generations but the same mission: boxing, the noble, inherited at a time when many sports & media experts are turning more and more towards consumption and promotion of entertainment and of the business embodied by the UFC.
As the UFC continues its journey and its conquest of the world, the face to face between the French Ciryil Gane and the star of the organization Jon Jones for a UFC 285 raked in nearly $ 12.15 million in box office 20,000 seat venue in Las Vegas.
The following week, the Takam – Yoka fight was held in the 6,400-seat Zenith to generate 20 times less in ticket sales.
When we find Carlos Takam;
he is calm as usual.
He does not have a sense of duty accomplished but rather that of an athlete who has trained to perform, to win without leaving anything to chance.
Takam is the one who took all the fights and took up all the challenges, he did not come to Paris as an outsider but as a headliner as he confided during the pre-fight press conference.
Since March 11 and his victory, he has been recognized even more in the streets of Paris.
Yes, the media requests are more and more numerous and yes, he is the number 1 boxer today in France in a legendary weight category that often stirs up passions.
“
I approached the fight being confident and calm because I had done a good preparation, I had the time and above all I didn't want to leave anything to chance with a very offensive strategy from the start of the fight.
I knew why I was in the ring and I worked hard to be ready on D-Day.
” confided to us the Franco-Cameroonian who now lives in the United States where he explains to us that he feels good there for his preparations because everything is done so that the athlete is fully ready and at ease with training very professionals and appropriate recovery.
Once the scene is set, we come back to the feat of the Zenith but with his legendary simplicity and humility, Carlos Takam tells us how much he respects Tony Yoka and how important it is to let him have his way: "criticisms are always easy
but Tony is not lacking in talent.
Afterwards, you also need a team, a discipline and a framework that allows you to be fully focused on the objective.
All of this is learned over time.
Boxing is a hard sport and at the slightest approximation, we pay cash
”.
Carlos Takam and Toni Yoka Leila H. Fennane
And we talk cash with the one who has kept a large part of his heart devoted to Africa.
The UFC, the exorbitant bonuses for fighters and the sport business that accompany new events like Tommy Fury vs. Jake Paul who will pocket 4 and 8 million dollars respectively by having spent 10 times less time in the ring leave him puzzled.
His wish is to box out of passion and a taste for challenge, not to become a celebrity or an influencer.
Carlos explains to us that he wants to remain himself and have received a lot of requests in recent days: “
I have lots of requests from everywhere, lots of messages also of congratulations for my fight and a lot of support from personalities and anonymous people.
I thank them but my thing for me is sport and also transmission.
I want to continue to help those in need, especially the younger generations.
The course was difficult but I always hung on and I don't like to complain.
Today, if I can contribute to making Africa, my roots and all those who dream of watching us fight believe in themselves and move forward, then it's an honor”
.
Carlos Takam Leila H. Fennane
We discuss with him the bonuses of the UFC, the organization which aims to attract and retain ever more the public of combat sports and in particular the enthusiasts of the noble art, the one which displays colossal bonuses for its athletes.
Indeed, Dana White, the boss of the organization does not hesitate after each event to give the figures, each time records are broken.
For Ciryl Gane against Jon Jones, it's a bonus of more than 7 million dollars for the American prodigy against 1.25 million dollars for "
Bon Gamin
".
But these figures do not turn the head of the Lion Takam as he is nicknamed.
His ambition is more noble, his wish is to continue to perform and above all to return to Africa to carry out actions in sport and education: “
I have to give back to Africa what I received, the values, the history and the love of the continent so I invest myself in education with the construction of schools and sport as a common thread with the children.
This is the most important thing for me, to give and pass on what Boxing has given me without forgetting my roots which make the man and the athlete that I am today
”.
As for knowing what will be the next sporting challenge, Carlos does not say everything.
He admits having already received many requests and proposals, but taking the time to reflect and sit down with his team to take up the next big challenge that will position him a little more on the international scene.
Back on stage, fists raised: Oubaali back
They know each other well even though they are from two different generations, Carlos Takam and Nordine Oubaali have often crossed paths and even had the opportunity to share the same training camp in Marbella.
And precisely, coming back on stage, first at home, as close as possible to her roots, is what Nordine Oubaali wants to do.
The multiple WBC world champion who had achieved the feat first against Raushee Warren in 2019 decided to put on the gloves on April 29 in Douais with the coach of his debut Robert Pantigny.
He who has known the rings of the whole world, from the United States, to Japan via Kazakhstan has taken the time of retirement but also that of the family.
Need to step back and heal.
While publishing a denial of a possible return,
Nordine Oubaali Leila H. Fennane
Now a trainer at the Douai boxing club alongside his little brother Messaoud (yes… boxing with the Oubaali is a family affair), coming back to finish the story motivates him.
He who has never really stopped training has taken the time to repair his physical problems and wants to have fun.
To the question of the fight too many or the boxer who does not know how to stop, he answers us to be fully aware of his abilities and to know that he did not stop because he was at the end of his career but rather because the conditions in which he had to perform each time exhausted and demotivated him.
On the April 29 fightcard, it will also be the return of the WBO world champion, the Douaisian Ségolène Lefebvre who will try to regain her world belt.
A date to remember, nine years after Nordine Oubaali made his first professional fight and wrote a beautiful page in world boxing.
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