Tony Yoka-Christian Hammer Set, November 27 in Nantes, France
Tony Yoka will enjoy a quick ring return and possibly with a stateside tour immediately to follow.
The 2016 Olympic Gold medalist and current rising heavyweight prospect from Paris will enjoy his second fight since the pandemic. Yoka will step up in class as he faces Germany’s Christian Hammer atop a November 27 show, which will air live on Canal+ from H Arena in Nantes, France.
“My next fight is on November 27,” Yoka confirmed on Wednesday. “Despite the confinement, the ‘Conquete’ (conquest) doesn’t stop!”
The event will give Yoka a two-month turnaround, a needed rate of activity given his last ring appearance. The unbeaten 28-year old needed just 121 seconds to tear through countryman and former title challenger Johann Duhaupas, scoring two knockdowns in registering the quickest win of his three-plus year pro career.
Prior to September’s clash, Yoka (8-0, 7KOs) had not fought in exactly 52 weeks, scoring a pair of wins in 2019 following a year-long suspension for having missed mandatory random drug tests.
A stiffer test is expected from Hammer (25-6, 15KOs), who fights for the first time since a 1st round knockout win last December in Wolgast, Germany. The 33-year old German-Romanian heavyweight was once targeted to face England’s Dave Allen this past October, only to have to withdraw due to testing positive for COVID-19.
With a win in November, the next step for the undefeated heavyweight is to conquer the United States.
Yoka—whom bested current unbeaten heavyweight contenders Filip Hrgoviç and Joe Joyce in the medal rounds to capture the Gold in the 2016 Rio Olympics—has been approved for an O-1A travel visa, granted to individuals with an extraordinary ability in the sciences, education, business, or athletics. The visa is valid for three years, which grants plenty of time for Yoka to make his first career appearance outside of his native France.
