Set for March 11th. Not sure I like this for Yoka coming off a poor performance even the Parisian judges couldn't skew in his favor. Takam may be old but he can still bang. Thoughts?
Takam's choice is strongly criticized in France. If Yoka wants to win back the public he must finish the fight before the limit.
There will be an early stoppage, after Yoka throws a flurry of punches, even though Takam won't be seriously hurt.
Takam went the distance with Mak after being down twice... I don't see Yoka having an easy time stopping him. UD most likely.
Be interesting to see if Yoka is the same guy. Some people don't bounce back well from their first loss.
I like this fight, Takam surprised me against Makhmudov, didn't expect him to have that much left at his age. But after seeing the Yoka-Bakole scorecards, Takam surely needs a KO to win. I'm expecting a Yoka UD. Would be a statement if he managed to stop Takam but I don't see that happening.
What were the cards? He copped an absolutely shallacking all fight long from Bakole. It was like a cat playing with a half dead mouse. Yoka showed a lot of heart and toughness in that fight though.
In the end, after ten largely one-sided rounds, Bakole was “awarded” a majority decision win, the scores being 96-92, 95-93 and a simply ludicrous, it-has-to-be-investigated 94-94 Source: Martin Bakole Scores Career-Biggest Win Over Tony Yoka, Yet Once Again Simply Unacceptable Scoring Occurs! - Boxing News 24/7 (https://www.boxing247.com/boxing-news/martin-bakole-scores-ein-yoka/221552)
I hate to say it but i think Yoko will just box tall to a boring decision He knows what he's doing cherrypicking Takam to try and look better than Makhmudov. I hope Takam sents his lights out early
I don't think Takam is as good as he was, and he would need to win by KO or dominate Yoka, so I don't see the upset here. Takam is tough and experienced and probably can last the distance though.
Hopefully if Yoka wins he can face Mahmoudov or Ajagba. I don't really rate any of them tbh, but could be interesting fights.
Takam's not an easy fight or anyone but the very top guys and Yoka clearly after the Bakole loss isn't anywhere near the top of the division. I expect Takam to give him problems early, but he'll fade in the 2nd half of the fight like he always does and Yoka likely just out works him to win a close decision and there will be outrage as Yoka is given a near shut out on the cards despite scraping a win in reality.