Tony Yoka to headline in Paris on Saturday night

French heavyweight Tony Yoka returns tomorrow night when he takes on Arslan Yallyev in Paris.

The fight, which will take place at the Adidas Arena, is set for ten rounds and will see Yoka, 13-3 (11), take on Yallyev, 16-0 (10). Yoka, 33 years old, is the second-ranked heavyweight out of France behind Mourad Aliev, 13-0 (10), but came into the professional game in 2017 after winning a gold medal at the 2016 Olympics as a superheavyweight.

Aliev, meanwhile, will challenge for the European heavyweight title on 7 June in Hamburg.

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It is something of a conundrum that Yoka has made so little impact on the world scene since he turned over. At 6’7” and in his early twenties when he turned professional, he should have taken his place amongst the great heavyweights of the last ten years – Fury, Joshua, the Klitschkos, Dubois, Joyce, Usyk, Parker – but his career has largely been a damp squib.

After turning professional, Yoka moved in the right direction and, at the time, was doing so in a quick fashion. He beat Dave Allen (fighting tomorrow on DAZN, by the way) through stoppage in ten rounds in his sixth fight, then registered stoppages over fringe contenders Alexander Dimitrenko, Michael Wallisch, Johann Duhaupas, Christian Hammer, and Petar Milas.

But Yoka had seemed to come unstuck by 2022. It was hard to see when the rot had seemed to begin to seep in, but he was suspended for a year in France in March 2018 when he missed three drugs tests.

He returned with the Dimitrenko fight and while he kept winning, it was as if the momentum had dropped. Martin Bakole, 17-1 (13) at the time, outpointed him on a majority decision over ten rounds in May 2022. Ten months later, Yoka lost another decision, this time to perennial contender Carlos Takam, then 40-7-1 (28).

After nine months out, Yoka came back again, only to lose to Ryad Merhy, then 31-2 (26), by another split decision. Merhy was a blown-up cruiserweight going into the bout and has achieved nothing notable in the time since, losing on points to Jared Anderson last April and winning by stoppage against a 5-2 fighter last time out (Merhy has a bout set for June in Belgium).

Since then, various reports have placed Yoka with Don Charles, having parted ways with Virgil Hunter. He’s also fought twice in the UK, on small shows in Swindon and Tolworth.

Yallyev, the man on the other side of the ring tomorrow in Paris, has a solid-if-forgettable record with no stand-out names. His last fight was against an opponent called German Skobenko, who came into the ring with a 6-15-2 record. Yallyev outpointed him over eight rounds.

There still seems to be some confidence in Yoka’s career. The Adidas Arena has a maximum capacity of around 9,000 seats. Yoka is the headline act.

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But regardless of how popular he is or how much confidence those behind him have, any further loss will hammer another nail into his career.

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