Tony Yoka vs Martin Bakole rescheduled for May 14th in Paris

AllStar Boxing announced today that Tony Yoka and Martin Bakole are once again scheduled to trade hands at Paris’ Accor Arena, this time on March 14th. The new date comes almost exactly four months after the original, January 15th, which fell through due to France limiting the venue’s maximum capacity as part of their anti-omicron policies.

It’s been a fairly wild ride so far; Bakole (17-1, 13 KO) initially agreed to meet Yoka (11-0, 9 KO) on December 11th, only for the latter to instead schedule a January 15th clash with Carlos Takam. Takam wound up injuring his wrist the following month, allowing Bakole to step back in.

After that matchup collapsed, Yoka agreed to meet fellow Olympian Filip Hrgovic in a final eliminator. Bakole’s team pushed back, claiming that they had a written statement from Yoka’s team that their contractually mandated fight was postponed rather than canceled, and the IBF agreed.

So, here we are. Still a very solid matchup, a put-up-or-shut-up test for Yoka and Bakole’s chance to pay what Michael Hunter did to him forward.