Anthony Victor James Yoka popularly known as Tony Yoka is a French professional boxer with a few wins to his name since the beginning of his career. His first victory came when he was still an amateur; he represented France at the 2016 Olympics and won a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division.
According to his boxing record, Yoka has 7 total number of fights with 7 wins. He has been compared to the likes of Anthony Joshua and Lomachenko but he refuted this because he believes they might look alike but yet they each have their own ways.
Yoka was born on 28 April 1992 in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, France to Victor and Gertrude Yoka. There is no much detail about the boxer’s background but he started boxing at a tender age of 12.
The Professional Career of Tony Yoka
In 2008 the tall and charismatic boxer competed in the French Junior National Championship and came 1st place. Then in 2009, he came 2nd in the President’s Youth Cup ( Grudziadz, POL) but only lost to Farid Pashayev(AZE) and won against Marcin Siwy(POL) 6:3 in the quarterfinal.
He had a series of successful games when he won the 2009 Agalarov Youth Memorial tournament against Fargan Omarov(AZE) and the 2010 Brandenburg Youth Tournament against Muhammet Erthan Aci (TUR) 3:0 in the final. That same year, the came 2nd place in AIBA Youth World Championships (Baku, AZE) which he lost to Fillip Hrgovic (CRO) 7:4 in the final. He also won against Joseph Parker( NZL) 8:5 in the final of the Singapore 2010 youth Olympic games( Singapore, SIN).
Yoka continued to get better at his game, in 2012 he won the French national championships which he won against Djibril coupe (FRA) 19:6 in the final. He lost the AIBA European Olympic Qualification Tournament (Trabzon, TUR) to Mogomed Omarov (RUS) AB in the 2nd final round. After achieving so much in a short while, he earned a spot at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. He competes in the AIBA Pro Boxing and had previously won bronze at the Baku 2015 European Games. The boxer is said to be an entertaining fighter to watch when he is on full form.
Tony Yoka turned professional in 2017 and made his debut by beating Travis Clark at Le Palais des sports in Paris in June 2017. He later defeated Jonathan rice in October 2017 through a unanimous decision.
Details You Probably Don’t Know About Tony Yoka
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1. Banned for breaking anti-doping rules
He was banned by the French anti-doping agency and he later served a one year ban between July 2018 and July 2019 after he missed three drug tests. In August 2018, the French council of state rejected his appeal against the ruling.
2. His Olympic Gold Medal was France’s first
Tony Yoka fought the British boxer, Joe Joyce in the super heavyweight division at the 2016 Olympic Games which he won a gold medal. It was the first super-heavyweight gold medal in France’s history.
He became very popular in France when he won the Olympic gold medal and then later succeeded in signing a profitable television deal with canal+.
3. Yoka’s Coaches
Also called Le Conquete, Yoka was initially trained by an American, Virgil Hunter. He is coached by Luis Mariano Gonzalez and Xavier Noel and the name of his club is Boxing Amical Les Mureaux and he has had 89 bouts in his career.
4. U.S Promotion
Top Rank intends to co-promote Yoka in the U.S. even though the deal has not been sealed yet at the time of this writing due to the coronavirus outbreak. But the deal looks promising because the chairman of Top Rank, Bob Arum sees him as a real talent and very personable. The company would provide him with a larger and better platform as it did Tyson Fury and others.
5. He is married to Estelle Mossely, also a boxer
Yoka is married to Estelle Mossely in 2018 after several years of relationship. His wife is also a French professional boxer and an Olympic gold medalist. Mossely won France’s first women’s Olympic boxing crown at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2016 AIBA World Championship. The couple has two children: Ali Yoka and Magomed Yoka.
His wife was ranked the world’s best active female lightweight by BoxRec in November 2019. She has also held the IBO female lightweight title in 2019.
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6. Tyson Fury wants to fight him
The WBC heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury named Tony Yoka among the list of several boxers that he would want to face at the weight before his contract expires. Fury said this during a live Instagram video.
7. Tony Yoka is tall and well-built
The boxer is quite a tall fellow, he stands 6 feet 7 inches tall and has a reach of 208 cm and is classified as a heavyweight, and he weighs about 231 pounds.
Complete profile of Tony Yoka
| Tony Yoka | |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Anthony Victor James Yoka |
| Date of Birth | 28 April 1992 |
| Age | 32 years |
| Zodiac Sign | Taurus |
| Birth place | 18th arrondissement of Paris, Paris, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Education | NA |
| Profession | Professional Boxer |
| Father | Victor Yoka |
| Mother | Gertrude Yoka |
| Siblings | NA |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Spouse/Partner | Estelle Mossely (m. 2018) |
| Girlfriend | NA |
| Kids | Magomed Yoka, Ali Yoka |
| Estimated Net Worth: | NA |
| Source of net worth | Boxing career |
| Height | 6 feet7inches (2.01m) |
| Weight | 231Ibs |
| Eye color | Black |
| Hair color | Brown |
| Social media | Instagram |
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