Rio gold medalist turned professional dud Tony Yoka has a new lease on life thanks to Frank Warren
Can’t say I saw this one coming. Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions announced yesterday that they’d signed 2016 Olympic gold medalist Tony Yoka.
Yoka (14-3, 11 KO) edged out Joe Joyce for gold in Rio in a match that subsequent investigations showed was potentially fixed. His pro career has been similarly eyebrow-raising; he earned himself a one-year suspension in 2018 for skipping multiple drug tests and dropped three straight from 2022-2023 against Martin Bakole (understandable), Carlos Takam (less so), and Ryad Merhy (nope). He’s won three straight since, but two of those came over opponents with losing records.
Francis Warren rattled off a long list of potential dance partners for Yoka, but I can’t see this as anything other than an attempt to squeeze one last relevant fight out of what’s left of Joyce. I can’t imagine even the most die-hard of French superfans clamoring to see him against anyone else.