Souleymane Cissokho: “This defeat will make him progress”

“How do you analyze this defeat of Yoka?
We lose, we win, that’s how it is. This fight, it will make him progress, he will gain experience. He lost against a good boxer, but he had all the qualities to beat him. Tony came across better than him tonight, but overall I don’t think Bakole is better than Yoka! He could have won, as we can see from the close score. It needed a little more. Unfortunately the difference was not made in the last rounds. Yoka even came close to the worst at the start of the fight?
Bakole surprised him in the first round. We felt that his blows were heavy, that he hurt. He started strong, he hit Tony and that made the difference. I had the impression that he was injured during the fight, too, that he twisted his ankle. Tony was on management, he was trying to weather the storm and he started to come back on the later rounds. But it wasn’t enough. What else could he have done to reverse the trend?
He should perhaps have packed the fight a little more, because we felt that he was tired, Bakole. Tony showed courage, and it’s in these defeats like that that you learn, especially at home. It will bounce back and keep moving forward. It will take time, but he will come back. Tony is a champ. He has already experienced defeat, as amateurs. It had been hard, but behind, he had worked a lot, and he had become Olympic champion. He has everything to bounce back and become world champion. I have no doubt about it ! »