Anthony Joshua vs Carlos Takam: Late replacement not the opponent champion needs - don't waste your money
Boxing on TV: If you're anything other than an Anthony Joshua super fan, you are wasting your money spending £20 on Sky’s Pay-Per-View tonight
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Money matters if you're chasing it or not, and you can do with it what you like. But for all the conceptual notions that it comes and goes, if you're being ripped off, you should be told straight.
So here goes. If you're anything other than an Anthony Joshua super fan, you are wasting your money spending £20 on Sky’s Pay-Per-View tonight. Value for money is the ultimate personal decision, and boxing fans may see some gems on the undercard they cannot miss, but despite the 70,000 strong-crowd in Cardiff who no doubt will create a great atmosphere in their blue suits and flying pints, there is no real need as a sports fan to get involved in such proceedings.
Anthony Joshua was originally scheduled to fight Kubrat Pulev tonight, a veteran Bulgarian fighter whose lone loss came against Wladimir Klitschko in 2014. Tough, rugged and all the other generic attributes you’d assume from a high-level but not world-class heavyweight, Pulev was designed as a buffer opponent for Joshua before expected big fights next year against the likes of Joseph Parker, Deontay Wilder, and whisper it, Tyson Fury.
Then two weeks ago, disaster struck. Pulev pulled out of the fight through injury, before being replaced later that day by Carlos Takam, the next man in line in the IBF rankings. Takam had been in training as a reserve in case Pulev pulled out, and earned his spot at Joshua’s IBF and WBA world titles.
All well and good, but while Pulev was considered to have an outside chance of possibly troubling Joshua, Takam has even less chance. The 36-year-old Frenchman has a pretty 35-3-1 record, but the calibre of fighters he has beaten have been less than impressive. After nearly a decade of outclassing journeymen in France and Belgium, Takam could only draw with a gun-shy Mike Perez in January 2014, before suffering two losses to Alexander Povetkin and Parking.
Losing those two bouts is no disgrace, but there’s simply no opponent Carlos Takam has beaten who Joshua would have had any trouble with in his debut fight as a professional, let alone his 20th as a bona fide world champion. Joshua is coming into this fight no doubt a little perturbed after training for Pulev for most of his camp, and he did weigh in the heaviest he ever has yesterday, but after his war with Wladimir Klitschko in April, a fundamentally sound but non-troubling heavyweight like Takam will be bread and butter for the 28-year-old.
And that’s what it all comes down to. There are two likely options tonight for all viewers. Joshua stalks a nervous Takam around the ring for a couple of rounds, ships a couple of desperate shots and then takes him out early, or Takam shells up for ten rounds before being finished in the closing stanzas. Yes there’s the lucky punch option for the French upset, but Joshua has shown an ability to recover from devastating punches, even if it takes him a round or two to do so.
So that’s the main event, what about the undercard? Khalid Yafai defends his WBA super flyweight title against the undefeated Sho Ishida, but one has to question the record of Yafai’s Japanese opponent. His last two fights have come against debutants, and he’s struggled to majority decision and split decision victories over Japanese gatekeepers in recent years. Yafai is a good boxer who verges on great at times, and should have no problems in dismantling yet another fighter whose sole promotional gimmick is that he’s the best of a bad bunch.
Former Anthony Joshua victim Dillian Whyte also features in Cardiff against Finland’s Robert Helenius. Whyte is targeting a world title opportunity against Deontay Wilder, and should have few problems against Helenius who was once a much touted prospect, but after injuries and inactivity is a shell of the fighter he once was.
Elsewhere, Frank Buglioni defends his British light heavyweight belt against late replacement Craig Richards, while Katie Taylor aims to win the vacant WBA World Female lightweight title against Anahi Esther Sanchez, who missed weight twice yesterday.
It’s up to you really. Is it all worth £20 of your hard-earned money? Or can you think of something else to do with it, considering you’re already paying your Sky or Virgin bill every month. Maybe take the kids to the cinema; apparently the My Little Pony film is quite good. The Opera exhibition at the V&A museum is getting rave reviews, or see how many packets of Space Raiders you can buy instead. After all, it'd be money better spent.
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