Ihe is back. Ten months after suffering the first defeat of his career, Tony Yoka returns to the ring on Saturday evening in Paris, where he faces veteran Carlos Takam to finally “mourn” this setback and demonstrate his ability to “bounce back”. “I want to come back with a great victory. Not just a victory, but a victory with style, ”said the French heavyweight when putting on the gloves. “I can’t wait to rebox. I want to show that I worked, that I had a defeat, of course, but that I can bounce back from that. »
At 30, the 2016 Olympic champion, who now has a professional record of 11 wins in 12 fights, still believes in the title of world champion, even if his defeat on points ten months ago against the Congolese Martin Bakole had marked a big setback in his conquest of the heights of boxing.
At Bercy, on May 14, Yoka was overtaken by the power of his opponent after kneeling on the ground in the first round. Fallen from his pedestal, the hero of the Rio Olympics has kept a low profile, cutting with sport time to rebuild. He claims today to have “completely digested” this defeat. “The last stage of this mourning will be Saturday,” he says.
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” It will hurt ! »
To start again, Yoka could have chosen an opponent with a modest pedigree, but it is against the experienced Carlos Takam (39 wins for 7 defeats and a draw) that he will appear in the Zénith ring.
“I didn’t want to come back with a little fight. I wanted to come back with a strong fight, and I think that’s the case. »
At 42, Takam remains on two defeats in a row, one on points against the Russian Arslanbek Makhmudov last September, and a loss against the Englishman Joe Joyce by stoppage of the referee in the 6the resumption, in July 2021. But before that, the native of Douala in Cameroon fought the gratin of the category, from Anthony Joshua to Aleksandr Povetkin or Joe Joyce, and he still represents a reference and a danger for his opponents.
“I’m going to tire him out, the little youngster, he thinks the old lion is finished? No, I’m still here,” Takam promised during the pre-fight press conference. “The veteran, he is still young in spirit and, there, it will hurt. The two men know each other well since Yoka served as Takam’s sparring partner for a long time before turning professional. “Tony often says: Carlos is my big brother. I respect that, but in the ring, I’m not going to take him as a little brother, I’m going to take him as an opponent.
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“Boxing morning, noon and evening”
What scenario can we expect for their fight on Saturday? “Oh my God, it’s going to be beautiful, I swear. It’s going to be spectacular, ”promises Takam. “It will box, it will kick, it will scream, it will bleed. It’s going to be a good game, I’m sure. »
“I really want people to remember this fight, for people to say: We want more “, adds the Franco-Cameroonian, weighed at 117.6 kg, who explains that he prepared for this meeting based on “boxing, physical preparation and meditation”. For his part, Yoka (113.9 kg) left for four months on a commando course in Las Vegas, far from the “little distractions” of Parisian life, under the orders of his American trainer Virgil Hunter.
“Four months in the United States, it’s not fun,” he explains. “Four months of eating boxing morning, noon and night. It is very hard on the body and on the mind. It’s hard, but we have to go through it. The motivation and the determination that we can have in a fight, we draw it from these moments. »