French Heavyweight Tony Yoka Victorious Again Friday Night

Friday night in France, unbeaten Heavyweight contender and former Olympic Gold Medalist Tony Yoka put forth another solid performance on his way to a 12th round TKO win over Joel Tambwe Djeko in the main event.

Fighting in front of limited fight personnel, plus, friends and family of the fighters in Nantes, France (four hours southwest of Paris) Yoka used a solid Jab and hard right hands behind it to keep the Belgian born Djeko, who lives and trains in England now, at bay throughout the bout,

The hook is finding its mark ?@TonyYoka is looking sharp early. #YokaDjeko pic.twitter.com/JhyvkpJ20h

— ESPN Ringside (@ESPNRingside) March 5, 2021

The 28 year old Yoka was the more effective fighter throughout as he wore down Djewko, especially with lead right hands along the ropes, as the rounds ticked by in the bout. Djewko, now 17-3-1, offered little in the way of offense over the final few rounds.

After having Djewko stunned along ropes late in the 11th frame, Yoka stepped up the attack in the final round trapping Djewko in his own corner. A barrage of punches had Djewko ducking and leaning back. A Yoka uppercut to the chin scored and eventually, a stiff left jab straightened Djewko up.

He then turned his back to Yoka and the referee jumped between them to end things with just under :90 left in the fight. Yoka improved to 10 – 0 with 8 KOs and is now seeking a more formidable opponent to try to move his way up into World title contention.

Yoka does have a win over unbeaten British Contender Joe Joyce in the amateurs. That’s when he won the super heavyweight final at the Rio Olympics in 2016 by decision over Joyce.

Joyce recently defeated fellow unbeaten up-and-coming Brit, Daniel Dubois, in his last fight by 9th round TKO. However, instead of fighting Yoka anytime soon,  it’s expected that Joyce will fight former World Cruiserweight Champion Oleksander Usyk to solidify the WBO’s number one contender status.

Despite the unbeaten record the 6’7 Yoka is not currently ranked in the top five by any of the world organizations. He also has a controversial part of his professional past, as he was suspended for a year in 2018 by European boxing authorities for evading taking drug tests. 

However, performances like Friday night will only help him get into bigger discussions for fights.