Two heavyweights at the Zenith in Paris, and in the end, Carlos Takam inflicted on Tony Yoka his second defeat in his career. The 42 year old boxer won after a mastered fight, with experience.
It's like déjà vu. Ten months after his first career loss to the Congolese Martin Bakole, Tony Yoka lost again this Saturday, March 11, this time to Carlos Takam. The French-Cameroonian won on points after ten rounds of exchanges (96-94, 96-94, 94-96). Takam now has 40 wins, 7 losses, 1 draw while Yoka has a record of 11 wins and 2 losses.
This was supposed to be a transfer of power between two generations, but in the end it was just a confirmation. Yoka still has a long way to go to make an impact. Carlos Takam, 42, dominated Tony Yoka, 30. A victory acquired with experience, and with fists. Yes, Takam wore down his opponent throughout the rounds, displaying all his know-how in the ring. He also allowed himself to show some passivity at the beginning, letting his young protagonist take the lead. Yoka then tried a few punches from a distance, refusing to go toe-to-toe. However, from the third round onwards, Takam would accelerate. Hits to the ribs, a right to the head in the fourth round. In one of their exchanges, Yoka suffered an injury to his eyebrow after an unintentional head-on collision.
Yoka almost went down
The two boxers went at each other blow for blow. With a physical advantage, Tony Yoka tried to push his opponent to the limit. Nevertheless, even if he starts to pant in the 6th round, mouth open, Carlos Takam resists with brilliance and offers himself the points in forceps. In the 7th round, he landed a violent right hook in Yoka's face. The latter sees his mouth guard flying on the ring.
Aware of his advantage, Carlos Takam manages his advantage for the rest of the fight and wins by 2 judges to 1.
Le combat se durcit dans le 6e round ! 🔥#YokaTakam pic.twitter.com/2c5zxwXz5V
— CANAL+ Sport (@CanalplusSport) March 11, 2023
Yoka wants to get back to work
Obviously disappointed to concede a second defeat in a row after having aligned 11 victories, Tony Yoka reacted to the microphone of Canal +. "I just want to thank everyone. Ten months I didn't box, I wanted to give a real fight to the public. Congratulations to Carlos Takam, tonight was stronger. This year I am very disappointed. We have been preparing for this fight since November, we have done a lot of preparation for it. I had a small drop during the fight, I felt it. He started to drop physically around the 6th-7th round. I wanted to please the public with a big fight. With a victory against a reference opponent. Well... I improved in some aspects, but not enough, I have to go back to work".
On his part, Carlos Takam had comforting words for his opponent
