Anthony Joshua put his superiority in weight, reach, youth and striking technique to good use with a storm of attacks right after the gong. He knocked Carlos Takam down once in the fourth round, before being declared the winner by the referee in the tenth round.
The 28-year-old boxer maintained his impressive record of winning all 20 matches by knockout in his career. He also successfully defended his two prestigious championship belts, the IBF and WBA, against the French challenger.
Joshua’s victory was even more impressive when he received admiration from his senior opponent. “He is a great champion,” Takam admitted after the match. “I only had 12 days to prepare for the fight with Joshua. I want a rematch.”
Joshua holds three championship belts, including the IBF, WBA and IBO
Joshua’s victory was well deserved. With the advantage of height (more than 11 centimeters), arm span (more than 4 centimeters), and weight (more than 9 kilograms), the boxer who defeated the legendary Wladimir Klitschko took the lead right from the first round.
As Joshua predicted, Takam was the one who took the initiative to close in, hoping to narrow the physical disadvantage. The Cameroonian boxer took the blows very well, despite Joshua’s roundhouse punches from both sides.
Joshua’s punching speed seemed to slow down a bit, because he reached the heaviest weight of his career before the day of the fight with Takam. However, the power of his punches was still intact, making his opponent struggle to defend.
The desire to win and prove his ability on home ground, Millennium Stadium, Wales, caused Joshua to have a nosebleed in the middle of the second round, after receiving a direct punch from Takam. But that did not weaken his determination.
From the end of the third round, Joshua had many situations of forcing the 36-year-old opponent into the corner of the ring to launch continuous attacks. This tactic was effective in the fourth round, when the British boxer accurately hooked Takam’s right eye, causing his opponent to be dizzy and fall to the floor.
After this fall, Takam was mostly on the defensive. He kept as much distance as possible from Joshua. The IBF and WBA belt holder, on the contrary, was somewhat impatient with his senior’s tenacity. Hasty and slightly sloppy punches began to appear in the seventh round, making the match easier for the challenger in this match.
However, Takam only lasted until the 10th round, something that Klitschko had only done when fighting Joshua in his previous 19 matches. The big disadvantage in physique and physical strength made the Cameroonian boxer disoriented by Joshua’s long-range punches.
After a series of consecutive punches from Joshua, Takam did not have any defensive reaction. The referee decided to stop the match and awarded the British boxer a technical knockout victory.