On May 14, 2022, while Tony Yoka was at the peak of his art, he is sent to the mat by Martin Bakole at the Accor Arena in Paris. A brutal fall for a boxer feared at the time and feared by everyone else. It was his first professional defeat and the beginning of a downfall since the Frenchman will continue two new defeats, respectively against Carlos Takam in March 2023 and before Ryad Merhy in December of the same year.
Since then, Bakole has not failed to tease him, even claiming to have had pity on the former world heavyweight champion out of compassion for his children who saw him being massacred in the ring. “I didn’t want to finish it. I saw his children at the ringside. A victory in points was enough. In the ring, facing me, he was lost. What he showed had nothing to do with what he thought he was," he said in essence in an interview given to L'Equipe at the end of 2022.
Yoka wants his revenge against Bakole
Since then, Tony Yoka has recovered and is now on a four-match winning streak in his last four outings, including the last one against Nigeria’s Patrick Korte. A revival of form that restored confidence in Yoka who - nearly four years after this monumental setback for him - expressed the desire to take revenge on Martin Bakole during a fight that will be organized in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.
“I need to hit Martin in Kinshasa. Martin likes to talk about me, I heard him talking a little bit, I tell myself why not do this fight,"
said the 33-year-old Frenchman, guest of the channel Congo Top News Monde on YouTube. Of Congolese origin, this fight would also be symbolic for Yoka who would put on his gloves for the first time in the country of his roots, especially since he claims to have "learned from his mistakes" and feels better than Bakole currently.
« I am a better boxer than Martin, he doesn’t know how to box. I know how to box, I know boxing. The day he and I meet in the ring, he will learn what boxing is,"
added Tony Yoka. Obviously, Martin Bakole’s response was not long in coming, especially since Yoka slipped into a part of the interview that he gave an international aura to the Congolese thanks to their fight.
“I’m respected in the United States because I beat Jared Anderson. And in Poland because I beat Mariusz Wach," Bakole corrected on social media, not without also tackling the one who according to him "fights like an amateur" and must "learn to box."
Martin Bakole has not been in the ring since May 2025 in his fight against Nigerian Efe Ajagba which ended in a draw after ten rounds. Making his comeback against an icon like Tony Yoka, who moreover is in Kinshasa at his home, would be exceptional. But for this kind of fight, several parameters come into play and it should not be organized in a snap of fingers. Although, this is a possibility not to be ruled out.
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À propos de l'auteur
Philemon MBALE
Rédacteur sportif
Passionné de sport depuis toujours, partage avec vous les dernières actualités et analyses du monde sportif.