Tony Yoka stops veteran Alexander Dimitrenko in three rounds!
One of boxing’s newest heavyweight sensations, Tony Yoka was back in action after serving a one year suspension for missing three anti-doping test in 2018. The former Olympic gold medalist, fighting in front of the home audience in France, was looking to erase this part of on early career with a impressive performance.
The challenger would be veteran fighter Alexander Dimitrenko. After suffering two straight losses (one most notably to Andy Ruiz right before upsetting former unified champion Anthony Joshua), the more experience fighter needed a victory to keep his career off life support.
EARLY ACTION
The French fighter would be facing an opponent of equal height and reach. However, this didn’t seem to be a problem. He utilized feints while working behind the jab to create opportunities to land the right hand to the body.
In addition, he used his superior footwork by cutting off the ring and limiting the challengers ability of finding his range. Furthermore, he would take small steps backwards, avoiding return fire, then quickly attacking with sharp combination punches to the body.
Trying to mount some type of an offense, Dimitrenko landed some good jabs, although, keeping his hands low proved the early body attack was paying dividends.
Yoka noticed his opponent was reacting to the feints, so he used the jab to gauge distance, then dipped slightly while landing a beautiful over hand right that dropped the Russian born fighter.
Dimitrenko would get back up and try to survive, but the young prospect split the high guard with a jab followed by two crushing right hands that resulted in the underdog being slumped over the top rope.
This prompted the referee to immediately call a halt to the match with 1:30 left in the third round. It was the type of performance the hometown crowd was hoping for.
The 27 year-old former Olympian improves his record to (6-0, 5KO) while making a statement in spectacular fashion! This was a crushing defeat for Dimitrenko who is officially demoted to “gate-keepers” status, if he wasn’t already there.
LOOKING FORWARD
The skies the limit for the young prospect who many feel is going to be one of the brightest stars of the heavyweight division in the future. A fight can made for a minor title down the line to start getting recognition from the sanctioning bodies and crack the top 15 rankings!
Yoka adds to the continued buzz surrounding the heavyweight division and the excitement the future holds!
By: Garrisson Bland
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