If anybody was questioning the ambition of French heavyweight Tony Yoka, or wanted to see a sign of intent, Wednesday’s news regarding his career will have perhaps allayed some of the concerns.
Yesterday it was announced that Yoka, 14-3 (11 KOs), had signed with promoter Frank Warren and Queensberry Promotions, having boxed twice in the UK last year. More than just a new promotional deal, Yoka has, by opting for Queensberry, positioned himself among a gang of the world’s best heavyweights and in doing so shown a readiness to test himself against the best.
It is Queensberry, after all, who own more of the world’s top heavyweights than any other promoter. This means it is easy to make fights between these heavyweights and establish some sort of pecking order. It also means that Yoka, whose career has so far been one of unfulfilled potential, knows exactly what he is getting himself into.
“He’s been knocking about quietly and this deal has been a work in progress for a little while now,” said Francis Warren of Queensberry Promotions. “Credit to Queensberry for getting it over the line and fair play to Tony for stepping up and wanting to be involved with the world’s best heavyweights.
“If he didn’t want to get involved with it, he could have quite easily signed with one of the other promoters who don’t have the same heavyweight pedigree on their books. But he signed with Queensberry and he knows that he’s going to have to fight one of their guys. There are plenty of options for him there. Win against one of the other heavyweights and suddenly you’re on the front foot again and you’ve put them on the back foot. It’s all very interesting at the moment at heavyweight. We might have established, unknowingly, a bit of a UFC model within the heavyweight division, where all the best guys fight each other fight after fight after fight.”
Yoka, the latest addition to Queensberry’s heavyweight roster, has not had things his own way since turning pro in 2017, despite having an Olympic gold to his name (won in 2016). Though undeniably talented, he struggled to impress in the early years of his pro career before then hitting a rough patch circa 2022 and 2023. It was during those years he lost three fights on the bounce: outpointed, albeit in competitive fights, by Martin Bakole, Carlos Takam and Ryad Merhy.
Some believed that would spell the end of Yoka and that his dream of becoming a world heavyweight champion would remain just a dream. However, now, at the age of 33, the Parisian is not only back in the win column – he has won three fights in a row, in fact – but he has both the power behind him and the options in front of him to quickly find a ladder on the board and start climbing again.
“It’s taken him a bit more time to transition to the pros,” admitted Warren. “Tony had a very promising start but then he hit a bit of a lull.
“Maybe he didn’t have the support network around him he has now. Obviously, he’s got a promoter backing him now and DAZN will also be wanting to put everything behind him. You might see DAZN throw their weight behind him and have him headlining shows in his home country.”
It is likely that Yoka will begin his time at Queensberry with a “comeback” fight on one of their upcoming events. Beyond that, there is no guessing where he will go or which of the various Queensberry heavyweights he will find himself opposing. He could, on the one hand, fight Joe Joyce, the heavyweight he beat contentiously in the final of the 2016 Olympics. Or he could, on the other hand, fight Daniel Dubois, a face new to Yoka and someone who will be looking to rebuild following a loss against Oleksandr Usyk two weeks ago.
“I think Joe against Tony is a great fight and obviously Daniel is going to need a fight,” said Warren. “Moses [Itauma] is coming through and he’ll like the idea of going in against someone who has won an Olympic gold medal. Dillian [Whyte] will hopefully need a comeback fight after Moses beats him [on August 16]. There’s also [Agit] Kabayel. We could take Tony as a voluntary defence [for Kabayel’s WBC interim belt] and no one would bat an eyelid. All of those fights are possible for Tony and would be of interest to boxing fans.”
Either way, after eight confusing and somewhat controversial years as a pro, it seems that Tony Yoka is about to take his chances and find out.
