Joshua’s encouraging message to Yoka after his three defeats in a row

Anthony Joshua, former world heavyweight champion, is urging Frenchman Tony Yoka, his successor to the title of Olympic champion, to persevere after his three defeats in a row.

Two Olympic super-heavyweight champions, but two different destinies among professionals. Briton Anthony Joshua (34), crowned at the London Olympics in 2012, urged Frenchman Tony Yoka, gold in Rio in 2016 in the same category, not to give up despite his three consecutive failures. If the Englishman has won several world belts among the pros (IBF, WBA, WBO), the Frenchman has experienced serious setbacks by successively losing to the Congolese Martin Bakole in 2022, the French-Cameroonian Carlos Takam in March 2023, then the Belgian Ryad Merhy in December 2023 at Roland – Garros.

“Tony can still write his story”

“It doesn’t matter, don’t give up,” says Joshua against Yoka, in an interview with L’Equipe. “I also experienced three mistakes. So what? Tony can still write his story. Everyone traces his own path, we don’t need to have the fate of Elon Musk. Maybe Tony will never become a world champion, but the most important thing is not there. The essential is between him and him. Does he have the feeling of giving it his all? Of doing his best? That’s what counts. On the day of judgment the questions will be: did he work hard, was he a good father? Did he help people, did he treat them with respect? The real victory is achieved for doing one’s best. It is not because you have not become the best that you have failed.”

Joshua suffered the first defeat of his professional career on June 1, 2019 against Mexican-American Andy Ruiz Jr during the defense of his titles. If he had avenged the latter, he then lost twice in a row against the Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk in 2021 and 2022. Since then, he has won his last four fights, including the one against Francis Ngannou on March 9 last year. After Joshua’s defeat to Usyk, Yoka told RMC Sport that he believed he had “every opportunity” to beat the Englishman thanks to better technique than the latter. Which Joshua doesn’t take offense to.

“Yes, it’s confidence,” he says in L’Equipe. “But keeping an element of self-doubt maintains vigilance. You can tell yourself ‘I’m the best’ or think ‘how can you improve’. Telling yourself ‘this bastard might fire me’ helps me to get up in the morning to run. For me, at least, that’s how my warrior psyche works.”