Boxing. Muscle building and psychological work: a new Yoka returns to the ring

Having fallen back to ^55th in the world rankings, French heavyweight Tony Yoka, who returns to the ring and the French public on Saturday in Paris against Russian Arslan Yallyev, assures that he has learned from his three defeats and wants to continue looking forward.

The 2016 Olympic champion left the spotlight following his defeat against the Belgian Ryad Merhy on December 9, 2023. Against an opponent who seemed largely approachable, Yoka was overwhelmed in all areas and conceded his third defeat in a row after having already fallen against Martin Bakole in May 2022 and Carlos Takam in March 2023 .

Having fallen from his pedestal, the French hero of the Rio Games then became more discreet, an opportunity to take a step back. "There are always lessons to be learned from defeats. I've drawn quite a few conclusions from them on a personal level, but also on a technical and tactical level," he told a few media outlets on Wednesday.

Physically more massive, the 33-year-old boxer also mentions, albeit timidly, working on himself. "It was hard to get back on track after two complicated years," he admits. "But I realized that the psychological aspect is much more important than I thought. You have to be 200% mentally before you can win with your technical or physical preparation."

An aspect he worked on "a few times" with his loved ones, he confides. "I had to feel good, actually. The main thing was to start again with something positive, to love what I was doing."

Because after his three defeats in a row, Yoka admits to having lost the love of his sport for a while: "I no longer enjoyed training. When you're not happy going to work every day, it inevitably affects your work. And it showed in the ring. After that last fight [ against Merhy; Editor's note ], my friends told me they didn't recognize me. I wanted to take a step back to change all that."

In the meantime, two small fights against "shadow" stooges in England, where he now trains after several years in the United States, allowed him to string together two successes. Enough to "break this cycle of defeat" and regain confidence far from the French media pressure born from the fanfare launch in 2017 of "La Conquête," the odyssey supported by Canal+ that was to lead him to the world title in 15 fights.

Eight years later, Yoka is clearly far from a chance at a world title, unlike several other members of the "solid team" at the Rio Olympics, led by Souleymane Cissokho and Christian Mbilli. But there's no reason to have any regrets, he says. "Everyone has their own path. You have to follow your destiny. I'm not a jealous person," he says.

“I don’t look back. I don’t look at what was done or not done. It is what it is, it’s done. It’s my career, my life, my experience. If it had to change, I wouldn’t change it. All we can do is change what’s going to happen and what’s in front of us. I’ve worked a lot for this fight on Saturday. I’ll just see you on Saturday.”

Facing Yallyev, 28, the challenge promises to be tough since the Russian, ranked ^38th in the world by the reference site boxrec , has 16 victories in as many fights for 10 successes before the limit.