Tony Yoka believes he’s more deserving of a fight against Anthony Joshua than Jake Paul, who he views as a “YouTuber,” not a boxer. The 2016 Olympic gold medalist Yoka (14-3, 11 KOs) has been mentioned as a potential rebuild opponent for Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) to fight in December in Ghana.
Yoka’s Motivation: A World Title Shot
Yoka, 33, insists that the reason he wants to fight Joshua isn’t financial. He believes this because it would mean an immediate world title shot if he were victorious. The France-born Yoka says it would be more beneficial for him to fight Joshua than it would be to battle WBC interim heavyweight champion Agit Kabayel.
He believes that a win over Joshua would mean more because he’s a former world champion, whereas Kabayel has been waiting for years in line without getting a shot. However, it’s hard not to see Yoka’s desire for the AJ fight to be motivated by the lure of the millions that he would make. Surely, that would be the real reason.
With a 3-3 record in his last six fights, Yoka isn’t ranked in the top 15 by any of the four sanctioning bodies. He’s not a big puncher and would be a relatively safe opponent for AJ to fight as a confidence-builder after being blown out in five rounds last September at Wembley Stadium by Daniel Dubois.
Dismissing Paul as a “YouTuber”
“No, he’s not, and he knows that he’s not. He’s a YouTuber that is trying to do boxing, and he’s pretty good. But he’s not on the top level,” said Tony Yoka to talkSport Boxing when asked if he views Jake Paul as a real boxer.
Joshua can make a lot more money fighting the massively popular Jake Paul than the seemingly down-on-his-luck Yoka, who is just hanging on by a thread to his career. Tony’s losses to Martin Bakole, Carlos Takam, and Ryad Merhy have taken all the air out of his career following his Olympic gold medal win nine years ago in 2016.
“It feels to me that your opportunity here is to be paid very well,” said Simon Jordan to Yoka.
“If I beat Joshua, I know the next fight is going to be a title shot,” said Yoka, justifying why he’s interested in fighting AJ. “If I beat [Agit] Kabayel, I’ll just be in the line like he has been for a few years now.”
Is a Title Shot Truly Realistic?
It’s highly unlikely that Yoka would be given a world title shot if he were to beat Joshua. He’d be ignored like he is now, but not because he’s dangerous. He’s not well known, and his career is in the gutter after his losses to Bakole, Takam, and Merhy. It’s just surprising that Joshua is even considering a fight against him. That kind of shows you how far down Joshua has sunk for him to turn to a second-tier fighter to use for rebuild purposes.
“I don’t know. I’m hearing there’s speculation about this fight. So, I’m waiting for my team to come back to me,” said Yoka about a potential fight between him and Joshua in December in Ghana.