Tony Yoka continues his rise in the heavyweight with a fight against strong Croatian Peter Milas on Friday.
The Olympic champion, with the support of Canal, has chosen the setting of Roland-Garros, where nearly 10,000 spectators are expected.
The Philippe Chatrier court was once one of the most popular places for great French boxers to shine.
This is obviously only a pure coincidence, but Tony Yoka and his promoter Jérôme Abiteboul are surely among those who will have made the most beautiful tribute to Jean-Paul Belmondo.
Organizing an event mixing boxing and Roland-Garros, as is the case this Friday, looks tailor-made for the legend of French cinema, who loved and knew inside and out these two sports and all those who have them. marked history.
A first since Bouttier-Monzon in 73
If we go a little further, the figure of Bebel can even serve as a starting point to tell what this exceptional meeting brings us back to. In the literal sense of the word, since it is the first time in 48 years that the Central court of the Grand Slam tournament will host a fight. The big comeback of boxing at Roland Garros, with Yoka opposed to Croatian Petar Milas, but also Mathieu Bauderlique in search of the European light heavyweight title and Souleymane Cissokho who will defend his WBA-Intercontinental super-welterweight belt, smells good l 'post-war and the Thirty Glorious Years, the romance between Marcel Cerdan and Edith Piaf, Belmondo and Delon hair-chested by a swimming pool, the legs of eph' and the 2CV Charleston.
A time, in fact, when boxing was a real popular spectacle, popular with stars, who did not hesitate to get involved with athletes. The last Porte d'Auteuil fight, between Jean-Claude Bouttier and Carlos Monzon, on September 29, 1973 in front of 30,000 people, was thus financed by Alain Delon. The interpreter of Rocco in Luchino Visconti's film, 13 years earlier, had even had a training camp set up especially for his friend on his property in Douchy, in the Loiret, and often ran with him in the morning, like the tells a great article by
L'Equipe
published after Bouttier's death, in 2019.
"I had sent Monzon ashore, I had passed very close [in Colombes, a year earlier], so Delon thought that I deserved a second chance", told in this article the boxer, who like during the first round , made the brilliant and barred Argentinian tremble but was forced to bow.
A mythical fight, which had held the whole of France in suspense, in the purest heritage of the golden age of boxing in France.
Carpentier as a pioneer
"The spectacle dimension in boxing is a really old tradition", explains Sylvain Ville, lecturer at the Picardie Jules Verne University and historian of boxing in France. Imported from England at the end of the 19th century, boxing exploded in Paris from 1907 under the impetus of promoters who linked these two aspects. At the time, we boxed at the Casino de Paris or at the Moulin Rouge, in front of the playwright André Antoine, the writer Tristan Bernard, or the jack-of-all-trades Maurice Chevalier.
"A lot of stars like that, from the cinema too, will support boxing and the athletes will reach fame," continues our historian. Georges Carpentier, who is the first great French boxer, will maintain very close links with the entertainment world ”. Before the First World War, it almost became the first national sport, then continued its development in the 1920s. In the following decade, Roland-Garros hosted its first fights, in particular a world championship with the best Frenchman of the moment, Marcel Thil , and the pre-Olympic tournament in June 35, to revive outdoor boxing.
What about Tony Yoka in all of this?
Since the launch of his professional career, in the wake of Rio, the Olympic super-heavyweight champion, guided by Jérôme Abiteboul, has always taken care to fight in places of prestige, or at least that made sense in the history that 'he intends to tell (the sports center, the Zénith in Paris, the musical Seine…).
“Roland-Garros came back each time on the table, especially since the boxing competition [of the Olympics] will be held there in 2024, he justified in the
JDD
last weekend.
The Parc des Princes, the Stade de France also make me dream, I have never done Bercy… In fact, we want to get out of the ordinary, to change the habits of boxing in France.
"
🏟️👀 Something's going on ... # RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/Yo9hCE0cPB
- Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) September 8, 2021
A way, too, to revive people's interest in this sport, which has been declining sharply for a good twenty years.
“This event revives the desire to organize fights in places that resonate in the imagination of the general public.
It is one of the ingredients for the success of the show, and there is clearly the idea of making it part of this tradition, observes Sylvain Ville.
Afterwards, it is difficult to say whether it will be a successful move or not.
Will one event change everything, I don't think so.
"
Because the level must follow, obviously.
And this is the whole current problem:
“Those who will bring boxing to the top are the boxers, not the executive, the marketing, the glitter around,” slice Charles Biétry, immersed in the industry for over 60 years. If Tony Yoka, Souleymane Cissokho, or Christian Mbilli have good fights and good careers, boxing will slowly rise again. If they are not at the global level, it will continue to vegetate in France. "
A youthful friend of Bouttier, with whom he then commented on a number of legendary fights, the former sports director of Canal recalls that it is world boxing which is in the trough of the wave. The density of the time, with the Haglers, Leonard, Hearns, and later heavyweights Tyson and Holyfield, made all the difference. “There was a ripple effect. There, there are very few boxers of very high level who make us get up at 4 am to see the matches. French boxing also suffers. "
There is that, and the inability of the Federation, denounced by many alumni, to support young talents towards the professional world, in good agreement with the League.
"We need to modernize, we are at least 20 years behind," said Yoka in the
JDD
.
A lot of people watch boxing, are asking.
We must give them some, organize fights.
Apart from those in Rio, we have not necessarily seen other boxers emerge.
It all builds up.
"
Will Dominique Nato, elected president of the Fed last March, succeed in relaunching the machine?
The French number 1, like all amateurs, hopes so.
In the meantime, he intends to revive the public a little taste of yesteryear.
Without Bebel, but with a man from Rio, all the same.
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