page_title: Anthony Joshua
section_title: Joshua vs. Takam
hierarchical_section_title: Anthony Joshua / Professional career / Unified heavyweight champion / Joshua vs. Takam
caption_attribution_description: English: Joshua_v_Takem at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.
context_page_description: Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua, OBE is a British professional boxer who is a two-time unified heavyweight champion, having held the WBA, IBF, WBO, and IBO titles since December 2019 and previously between 2016 and June 2019. At regional level, he held the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles from 2014 to 2016.
  As an amateur, he represented England at the 2011 World Championships in the super-heavyweight division, winning a silver medal; he also represented Great Britain at the 2012 Olympics, winning gold. In 2014, a year after turning professional, he was named Prospect of the Year by The Ring magazine. In 2017, his victorious fight against Wladimir Klitschko was named Fight of the Year by The Ring and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Joshua is the second British boxer, after James DeGale, to win both a gold medal at the Olympics and a world title by a major professional sanctioning body, as well as the first British heavyweight to do so.
context_section_description: On 3 August 2017, Klitschko announced on his website and social media channels that he was retiring from boxing. As a result, on 4 August, upon learning that Klitschko had retired, the IBF immediately ordered Joshua and 36-year-old Kubrat Pulev (25–1, 13 KOs) to fight next, with a deal needing to be reached by 3 September 2017. The WBA then ordered Joshua to make his mandatory defence against their top ranked fighter Luis Ortiz, giving them 30 days to reach a deal. According to Hearn, the plan was to fight Pulev next, followed by Ortiz and then a potential unification fight against Deontay Wilder. On 22 August, details between the camps of Joshua and Pulev were being discussed and close to being finalised for the date of 28 October 2017, with Las Vegas as the potential host.
  On 28 August, it was announced that Joshua and Pulev would fight at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff. Promoter Eddie Hearn made the official announcement on 5 September, "I'm delighted that we will be in Cardiff at the magnificent Principality Stadium for the next step of the AJ journey. Nearly 80,000 will gather on Oct. 28 to create another unforgettable night of boxing. Anthony will meet his mandatory challenger, [IBF] No. 1-ranked Kubrat Pulev, and the card will be stacked with world championship action, domestic title fights and the very best young stars in the game. Get ready for the next episode from the biggest star in world boxing." The official press conference took place on 11 September, and the following day, a reported 70,000 tickets had been sold, making it the fastest selling event. It also set the record of largest boxing attendance to be expected indoors. The previous record was Muhammad Ali vs. Leon Spinks rematch which gathered 63,000 fans at the New Orleans Superdome in 1978. Joshua's three-fight deal with Showtime had expired, giving Eddie Hearn the chance to talk to other providers. Showtime had the right of first option and a matching right, if any providers bid higher. When HBO bid $1.6 million for the rights to show the fight, Showtime matched the bid, meaning the fight would be shown live in the afternoon on Showtime.
  On 16 October, rumours circulated that Pulev had suffered an injury, which could see the fight being in jeopardy. The same reports suggested the injury was 10 days old, but Pulev's camp had kept it quiet. The injury was later revealed to be true and 36-year-old Carlos Takam (35–3–1, 27 KOs), who was ranked number 3 by the IBF, stepped in to replace Pulev on 12 days notice. Eddie Hearn said in a statement that he received a phone call from Pulev's promoter Kalle Sauerland, advising him of a shoulder injury he had sustained during sparring. Hearn revealed when the Joshua vs. Pulev fight was made, he contacted Takam's camp, knowing they would be next in line and told them to begin a training camp and stay on standby. IBF stated that Joshua fighting Takam would satisfy his mandatory defence. Despite Hearn claiming Joshua would weigh around 235–240 pounds, he officially weighed a career-heavy 254 pounds, while Takam came in a 235 pounds.
  On fight night, in front of nearly 80,000 fans in attendance, Joshua retained his world titles with what many believed was a premature stoppage in round ten. The official time of stoppage was 1 minute, 34 seconds. Many fans ringside booed the referee stoppage, which saw Takam go out on his feet. After a cagey first round, the second round saw Takam accidentally headbutt Joshua's nose, likely breaking it, causing Joshua's eyes to water. In round four, Joshua opened up a cut above Takam's right eye. After the referee checked the eye, Joshua knocked Takam down with a left hook to the head. He beat the count and lasted the remainder of the round. Another cut appeared above Takam's left eye in round seven. Referee Phil Edwards asked the ringside doctor to take a look at Takam a few times during the fight. In rounds eight and nine, Joshua started to back off, which saw Takam come forward and land some good shots to Joshua's head. In round ten, Joshua landed a clean right uppercut follow
caption: Joshua (in white trunks) vs. Takam at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, 2017
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D3000", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.00", "Image DateTime": "2017:10:28 22:30:22", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "216", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "29312", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8810", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/125", "EXIF FNumber": "24/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "900", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2017:10:28 22:30:22", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2017:10:28 22:30:22", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "9/2", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "125", "EXIF SubSecTime": "50", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "50", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "50", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3872", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2592", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "29172", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 1, 2, 0, 1]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "187", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "High gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}