Anthony Joshua Raises His Record to 20-0 with 20 Knockouts By Tenth Round Stoppage Over Tough Carlos Takam

By Joshua “City” Brewer

The atmosphere was bright as usual on this night in Cardiff, Wales, as International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Association (WBA) world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, 20-0, 20 KO’s, put his title on the line against Carlos Takam, 35-4-1, 27 KO’s.

Round one was a feeling out round as both fighters chose to be recovered with the shots thrown. The size advantage was apparent with Joshua showing his long jab. Takam moved around the ring looking to box. After an accidental head-butt, Joshua started to show more of his arsenal as the landed heavy hooks to Takam’s guard. Many shots were blocked by Takam’s gloves yet still impactful. The third round went similar to the second as Joshua continued to take the lead while Takam looked to counter, which he was able to do on occasion. Joshua wanted to pick up the pace in the fourth and landed a good shot that made Takam shrug his shoulders, though Joshua continued to hone in.

Takam received a cut from a hook-uppercut combination. Towards the end of the round Joshua landed a hard left hook that buckled Takam and made him touch his glove to the canvas in what is considered a knockdown. Takam was able to answer the count and continue for the remainder of the round.

Joshua stayed busy in the fight round as he maintained his lead and looked to target the cut on Takam’s right eye. Both fighters continued to throw punches as the action started to heat up. The sixth saw Joshua come out using his jab. Takam was able to land a few good body shots on Joshua. Joshua continued to pound forward with heavy hooks that made thudding sounds when connecting with Takam’s head. Much of the same took place in the seventh though Takam was able to land some of his right hooks while taking punishment from Joshua.

Joshua focused on the body in the eight and was able to dig in a number of left and right hooks. He also was able to land some hooks up stairs and appeared to rock Takam midway through the round. Joshua started to hold his Jab low as the round wore on. The paced picked up from both fighters in the ninth as they exchanged shots. The round was capped by a hard left hook from Joshua. In the 10th round Joshua started to pour on the punishment and landed a number of hard, unanswered shots. Takam showed that he had a solid beard but the referee stepped in to stop the fight giving Joshua the technical knockout victory.

There were 78,000 people in attendance at this event which shows that boxing is no doubt alive and well. Anthony Joshua Vs Deontay Wilder must happen in 2018 and will take the heavyweight division to a level of excitement it hasn’t seen since the 90s.

We’re not done with 2017 yet, so there is still plenty of action in left in the coming weeks.

In addition to Anthony Joshua’s big win tonight, he also is in the running to win the  Betway Insider supports BBC Spoty.

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