Heavyweight prospect Tony Yoka's lawyer Arnaud Pericard has claimed that the young Rio Olympics Gold medalist has been given a suspended ban for 1 year as he has missed four doping tests between July 2016 to July 2017.
Yoka's lawyer informed the AFP that he missed his first test because Yoka was on a plane back from training in the bay area, San Francisco, the second doping test was missed "during a period of relaxation" claiming that Tony "didn't know he was still subject to geolocation requirements".
Finally the last two tests were missed as the doping team went to Yoka's house in France while he was in the United States, according to Pericard.
Tony was set to face former French heavyweight champion Cyril Leonet in Paris on the 7th of April this year. Having been sparring partner for Joseph Parker who is also training for his unification showdown on the 31st of March against Anthony Joshua in Cardiff, Wales.
Something which is quite ironic, Tony Yoka had beat Joseph Parker to win a gold medal at the the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore. At the 2010 Youth World Amateur Boxing Championships he lost in the final to Croatian Filip Hrgovi.
Yoka won the gold at the 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships, which led him to earn him a spot at the 2016 Olympic Games at Rio de Janeiro. In the final round, he won a close and some felt controversial decision over and undefeated heavyweight prospect, Joe Joyce, to capture Olympic gold. For France, it was their first Super Heavyweight gold medal in their history.
In 2017, Yoka turned professional and signed a promotional pact with Ring Star promotions which is ran by Richard Schaefer and David Haye. The young heavyweight sensation is trained by the well respected veteran coach Virgil Hunter. He fought and beat Travis Clark in his debut fight at Le Palais des Sports in Paris, on June 2017.