What's y'all thoughts on Tony Yoka?

Liu Kang

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Not that good (yet ?) from what I've seen of him.
First two fights were against cans to build up his brand but he did get touched up and couldn't even finish last dude. Thus far, I don't see much in him even though they building up to be like AJ. Dude is athletic, move well around the ring (only 6 rounders though), has a good jab imo but he's very stiff, has basic peek a boo style, not much snap in his punches and his game revolves around a weird head first 1-2-1 that he spams all the time. I might have to see him live but only when he gets to face better competition. I wasn't impressed by him in the Olympics but happy for him because we got a medal but he's 25 and he still has plenty of stuff to learn. Wait and see.
 

Liu Kang

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Man fought last night and won a 10 rounder by (too early imo) stoppage in the 10th round. He's improving a bit, still seems light on his feet with a good step back, has a good jab (head and body), good 1-2 and usage of the uppercut. He's not afraid of fighting in the pocket though his comfort zone is the outside. That said, he's very basic boxing wise, it's clean and sound but not really versatile. His defense consists in shelling up in a stiff peek a boo style with not much upper body movement and he's been doing that since the Olympics. More importantly he doesn't look like he packs that much power. At 25, AJ was far more impressive power and skill wise.

Also, Dave Allen was embarassing as an opponent with lazy footwork, arm punches galore and only one infighting strategy, he was boxing better when he fought Ortiz. I hope Yoka will start fighting proper opponents by the end of 2019/early 2020 and I hope he'll be able to fight Duhaupas by then (and Takam afterwards).

 

Liu Kang

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does he have a good check hook with that step back?
From the couple of fights I watched of him, he doesn't seem to counter :ufdupavb: Maybe he has this in his arsenal and he doesn't have the need to use it yet but I doubt it. He wasn't fighting like that in the Olympics either. He's more of an out-boxer and to me his movement and (relatively) his speed are his main weapons. He usually moves in range, spams punches and moves out of range though he can be a puncher which he was mostly in this fight. He kinda switched style in that fight as he was less mobile as usual and tried to fight a mid-range and stand his ground. Probably a bout he used to learn a different style.
 
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