French 2016 Olympic super-heavyweight champion Tony Yoka maintained his unbeaten professional record by stopping Petar Milas in the seventh round of their showdown at Roland Garros on Friday night.
The 29-year-old Yoka improved to 11-0 with nine wins inside distance by battering the previously unbeaten Milas (now 15-1) to submission late in the seventh round. It was the first pro fight for Milas since October 2019.
Impressive from Yoka
This was an impressive performance from the man who defeated Britain’s Joe Joyce to claim Olympic gold in Rio some five years ago. He always gives the impression there is more to come, and now surely a step up in class is on the cards.
A showdown with the much-avoided Filip Hrgovic is something we’d love to see – Hrgovic too maintained his unbeaten record on Friday night with a brutal one-sided demolition of Marko Radonjic in Austria.
After a fairly circumspect opening, Yoka gradually took control of this one, and by the fifth he was clearly the stronger man. He was using powerful body shots to open up the opportunity to deploy the right to the head of Milas.
With Milas clearly tiring, the end came in the seventh. Again it was body punching which paved the way for the stoppage, followed by a left hook which had the Croatian on wobbly legs. A furious Yoka assault completed the knockdown, and though Milas did beat the count he was dropped again just seconds later. While Milas again tried to get onto his feet, the bout was waved off.