The Croatian Petar Milas having withdrawn, it is the Belgian Joël Tambe Djeko that Tony Yoka will face for the vacant title of European heavyweight champion. The fight will most likely take place on February 28 in Nantes.
Tony Yoka (28) found himself without an opponent, he has known his replacement since Wednesday. And it is against Joël Tambe Djeko (31) that the French will be opposed, probably on February 28 in Nantes. Information revealed by our colleagues from L’Equipe in the middle of the day. At stake for Yoka during this fight which will constitute his very first professional championship: the vacant belt of European heavyweight champion. Provided obviously for Jérôme Abiteboul, the promoter of Yoka, and his Belgian counterpart in charge of the interests of Djeko to agree on the amount of the grant. In which case, the Olympic champion of Rio will be off to find yet another new opponent. “I am going to get in touch with the Belgians to present the Championship on February 28 in Nantes,” Abiteboul can only assure for the moment. Hard to prove him wrong, knowing thatOriginally, his foal was to play the tenth fight of his Conquest against another boxer the Croatian Petar Milas, much younger (25 years) than Djeko. Precisely for a stock market story, whose announced amount of 135,500 euros did not seem to suit him, Milas finally preferred to give up.
Djeko, “to the dimension of Yoka”?
At first, however, it was the injury to the right hand of “the Artist”, consequence of his last victory, at the expense of the solid German Christian Hammer who had forced the Ile-de-France camp to postpone the fight, initially scheduled for December 20. Finally, no last fight in 2020 or Milas opposite in the ring for the still undefeated Tony Yoka (9 wins including 7 before the limit, 0 defeat), but therefore this fight to come (except new disagreement) against this boxer Belgian of Congolese origin who posts 17 victories, including 8 before the limit, 1 draw and 2 defeats on points). “Big Joe” remains on eight successes in a row (his last setback was in May 2016), including a victory two years ago over Russian Valery Brudov, ex-WBA interim light heavyweight world champion. In The team, French referee Jérôme Lainé, who refereed Yoka’s future opponent in May of last year, remembers an “opponent the size of Yoka, muscular, very tall, with large segments, a beautiful boxing , who is quite elusive, moves a lot, works a lot in sheds, knows how to dodge very well ”. An opponent who could pose “difficulties” to the French.
