Canal+ Group announced it has acquired exclusive broadcasting rights for the next four years for professional fights involving French boxer Tony Yoka, Olympic super heavyweight champion at Rio 2016 and amateur world champion in 2015. Welcome to the iconic boxing channel!
Boxing and Canal+ go back a long way. This season, Canal+ is actively investing in boxing by putting on major evening events for its subscribers, with brand new broadcasting techniques that totally immerse spectators in the fight.
With the arrival of Tony Yoka, Canal+ plans to ramp up its promotion of the Noble Art and support the rise of a future French sporting giant.
At a press conference with Tony Yoka and Thierry Cheleman, Sports Director of the Canal+ Group at Vivendi’s headquarters, General Manager of the Canal+ Group, Maxime Saada, said, “we are proud and delighted to welcome Tony Yoka, one of France’s greatest champions. We are really passionate about supporting this man’s career, which was launched so spectacularly at Rio. This brings boxing into the limelight on Canal+ as part of an already exceptional sports package. With his sporting prowess and personality, Tony Yoka has everything he needs to become French boxing’s standard-bearer.”
According to Thierry Cheleman, “the whole Canal family is thrilled about Tony Yoka’s arrival. Our goal is to nurture and support Tony in his ascent and in his ambition to become world champion. Following in the footsteps of football, rugby and Formula 1, boxing is set to become a real flagship sport on Canal+, which will be offering subscribers some exciting evening fixtures.”
Tony Yoka said that “this contract is a fantastic result, a childhood dream. When I was little, my father used to wake me up to watch Tyson and Lewis fights on Canal+. I always said to myself that one day I’d be one of those big names too, and that I would have the pleasure of boxing on Canal+.”
Richard Schaefer, Tony Yoka’s promoter and CEO of Ringstar Sports, who was also at the press conference, explained: “I’m delighted to be able to work with Tony Yoka. He has fantastic potential and a great future ahead of him. I’ll do everything I can to make sure his dream becomes a reality. His dream is to bring the title of Heavyweight World Champion back to France.”
