Olympic Gold Medalist Boxer Tony Yoka Receives O-1A Visa

We are proud to announce that Olympic Gold medalist Tony Yoka received approval for an O-1A extraordinary ability visa for a three year visa. Top Rank in Nevada served as the petitioner for Tony’s O-1A visa that will give him wide ranging work authorization over the next few years including the flexibility to fight and do entertainment activities such as movies, commercials, etc., that is independent of his contractual obligations to his main promotional partner, the Top Rank!

This approval comes at a great time because we are getting a lot of questions regarding options for fighters to take advantage of their own immigration status such as how long will it take? We approached many important stakeholders in combat sports, including international promoters, premier management companies, and the best training facilities to introduce this structure. There are myriad reasons for athletes to pursue O-1 visas with a petitioner they trust:

● Many promoters, including the Top Rank, are moving toward only obtaining P-1 visas for athletes who have fights scheduled in the United States.

● Most promoters do not petition for O-1A visas.

● Most fighters need to carry out activities other than competing to support themselves; P-1 work authorization is only for competing, and anything else may be a work authorization violation.

● When a contract with a promoter ends, the validity of the visa it petitioned for ends too. Fighters can avoid this by changing the sponsor of their petitions to someone on their own team.

● Promoters are more likely to sign fighters who already have work authorization to fight (P-1 or O-1 visa).

● O-1A visas do not depend on fights scheduled, thus fighters can avoid entry issues if something happens like the restrictions experienced by Brazilian fighters in the past for UFC 250 (www.sherrodsportsvisas.com/ufc250). 

This is our first O-1A visa approval for a Gold Medalist Boxer. The primary advantage Tony Yoka obtained with O-1A status is flexibility for work authorization. Many fighters need to have several streams of income, and the O-1A visa allows him to coach, do seminars, own businesses, and create content all on the same work authorization without changing visas. 

The Athlete:

Mr. Tony Yoka is an internationally recognized athlete and has garnered a great amount of regional and international championships. He is an exceptional boxer who has competed on the world stage, has faced tremendous competition, garnered international acclaim from fans all over the world and is ready to continue competing against the best fighters in the world. Mr. Yoka has competed in various international tournaments in which he was successful:

● 2010 Summer Youth Olympics Gold Medalist,

● 2015 European Games Bronze Medalist,

● 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships Gold,

● 2016 Olympic Games Gold

The Petitioner:

Top Rank Inc. was founded by Bob Arum, a Promoter and member of the Boxing Hall of Fame, in Nevada in 2010. Salita features the best young boxing prospects and established contenders from all over the world. Top Rank Inc’s world class events are viewable all over the world through networks such as ESPN and ESPN+. Top Rank Inc prides itself on offering boxers’ opportunities inside and outside the ring and looks forward to continuing to grow while serving the needs of fight fans around the globe. Top Rank currently has a 30 event per year broadcast deal with ESPN, the leading sports network in the United States. For nearly half a century, Top Rank has nurtured some of the sport’s all-time greats and produced some of its most exciting bouts.

Muhammad Ali. George Foreman. Roberto Duran. Marvin Haggler. Sugar Ray Leonard. Those are just some of the all-time greats Top Team has promoted during our more than 50 years in the sport. Indeed, they have staged some of the biggest fights in history featuring its biggest stars—names and events that transcend the confines of the ring and reverberate throughout the culture. That’s how Top Team built its global reputation as the gold standard in boxing: by developing talent, creating innovative programming, and orchestrating world-class events.

More recently, Top Team has guided the careers of Floyd Mayweather Jr., Miguel Cotto, Oscar De La Hoya, and Manny Pacquiao. Its current stable of champions is similarly poised for success. Vasiliy Lomachenko, Terence Crawford, Oscar Valdez, Gilberto Ramirez, Jose Ramirez: these fighters represent the best the sport has to offer, as well as its global appeal. As they continue to develop new talent, keep a look out for our many exciting young prospects and rising stars. Top Rank Inc. has promoted 1500 events with 9000 fights in 22 different countries.

Work Flexibility Schedule of Tony Yoka O-1A 1.

Weekly Training with the Petitioner’s facilities at least three times a week in Top Rank facilities in Las Vegas 

2. Perform advertising activities for sponsors and partners

3. Advise, create, produce, and perform on sports-related podcasts and other related podcasts for combat sports

4. Host and/or participate in combat sports-related seminars

5. Perform and/or participate in speaking engagements

1. Compete Top Rank Boxing Cards - Across the nation until June 1, 2024 - Beginning in MGM Las Vegas until COVID-19 Issues are alleviate 2. Additional engagements to the beneficiary’s itinerary for competitions, sponsors, and other major combat sports related opportunities as they become available.

O-1A eligibility is much more difficult to prove than for P-1 visas; however, we have success with boxers all the time as a result of our experience. Tony Yoka’s I-129 O-1A petition was supported by ample evidence that he meets the three criteria and qualifies for the non-immigrant extraordinary ability visa. 

First, Tony Yoka has extraordinary ability in the exclusive field of professional boxing and is an industry contributor, which is a combination of his international awards, membership in distinguished associations, published material about Mr. Yoka in leading media, and employment in an essential capacity, a factor we explained in great detail in the petition. Second, he seeks to remain in the United States on a temporary basis to continue competing in championship-level professional boxing. 

Under relevant rules, we could prove Tony Yoka’s O-1A eligibility in one of two ways. The first is “evidence of a one-time achievement (that is, a major, internationally recognized award).” We did make the argument that he is entitled to the O-1A non-immigrant visa pursuant to this factor as the Olympic Gold Medalist and the Amatuer World Champion. The specific events we pursued were the 2016 Olympic Games where he was the Gold Medalist and ranked World Number 1, and the AIBA World Boxing Championship Gold Medalist (2015). 

Boxing is a beneficial but difficult sport to prove awards because there are many divisions, experience levels, and sanctioned competitions. To help our clients navigate their Boxing experiences for visa purposes, we wrote an article on how to properly present Boxing experience for P-1 and O-1 visa petitions. 

Second, We Could Prove At Least Three of the O-1A Eligibility Criteria to get Tony Yoka the O-1A Visa. 

● Lesser national and International Awards

Mr. Yoka is a person of extraordinary ability in the field of professional boxing and has received awards domestically and abroad. The following are the awards won by Mr. Yoka and include:

● Olympic Games Gold Medal (2016),

● AIBA World Boxing Championships Gold Medal (2015),

● Summer Youth Olympics Gold Medal (2010), and

● European Games Bronze Medal (2015)  

Rankings can also be helpful for proving national and international awards. Mr. Yoka is ranked number one out of all of the fighters in his weight class in the entire world. Also, his professional boxrec rating lists him currently as the best heavyweight boxer in France.

● Memberships in Prestigious Organizations

Mr. Yoka has made significant contributions to the field of professional boxing nationally and internationally. Further evidence of Mr. Yoka’s contributions highlights that the beneficiary meets the criterion that evidences that the beneficiary has memberships in associations; an example is given briefly below: 

1. World Championships in several sanctioning bodies.

Only prestigious champions have won these awards since the beginning of modern boxing. The criteria for rankings and championships for the sanctioning bodies are included with this petition along with histories of past winners

2. Gold Medal Winner - This award is granted only to the winner of the premier boxing tournament in the World. There is only one winner every four years.

3. France National Boxing Team - Mr. Yoka was a member of the French National Boxing team and competed in several commonwealth games

● Mr. Yoka was featured by major media in published material due to his outstanding work and extraordinary ability in the professional boxing field

Mr. Yoka, one of the most renowned, leading and well-known professional Boxing champions in the world today, has received national and international recognition for achievements evidenced by critical reviews and other published materials.

Several award-winning publications featuring the beneficiary from all over the word are included with this petition. This includes articles from ESPN, the worldwide leader in sports.

ESPN’s Digital properties include ESPN.com, the world’s leading online sports service; espnW, the network’s initiative serving female sports fans; the ESPN App, WatchESPN and ESPN3, the groundbreaking 24/7 live sports broadband network, and ESPN Fantasy Sports, which includes the No. 1 fantasy football game. ESPN Digital properties also include ESPN Digital Audio, Interactive Games and other emerging digital media properties including vethirtyeight.com, Nate Silver’s site exploring analytics across sports, politics and economics.

● Mr. Yoka has performed in a leading and critical role in organizations that have distinguished reputations

This athlete has been the leading champion in almost all of the major sanctioning bodies in the sport as described previously in this petition and these bouts have been displayed on the biggest stages and broadcasts which are confirmed in the independent media coverage from all over the world

For more information on how we help support professional boxers with O-1 and P-1 visas, please contact our offices at 310-209-8545.