Ryad Merhy achieved fame in the boxing world with several world titles at cruiserweights. At the age of 31, he thought the time was right to take a step higher, to the mythical heavyweight class.
He did not make it easy for himself before his debut. In the Roland Garros stadium he took on his peer Tony Yoka.
Yoka became Olympic super heavyweight champion in 2016. Shortly afterwards he switched to professional boxing, but after 11 victories in a row, the Frenchman suddenly suffered 2 consecutive defeats.
Yoka wanted to reverse that negative spiral against Merhy. That was very disappointing. After a quiet opening phase, the Belgian clearly took over command. He worked hard, especially in the 8th of 10 laps.
The judges had to choose a winner after the final gong and the three of them unanimously chose Merhy, to Yoka’s dismay. “I don’t understand it,” he stammered.
“I thought I had done enough to win, that I dominated the camp.”
His coach, Don Charles, understood even less. “Those jury members may want to explain to me what they saw. Yoka landed so many blows on that boy. I demand a clear explanation.”
2023-12-09 23:08:03
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