Anthony Joshua defended referee Phil Edwards’ decision to stop his WBA and IBF heavyweight title fight with Carlos Takam despite refusing to celebrate when he did so.
The 28-year-old had endured perhaps the most frustrating night of his career when, in his 20th fight, the resilient Takam resisted his heavy punishment until Edwards intervened in the 10th round. France’s angry Takam, 36, immediately spoke of his desire for a rematch having protested at the stoppage, which led to booing from some of those in attendance.
Joshua also suffered a heavily swollen nose, which doctors have confirmed is not broken, on the same evening his ring entrance music and some of the Principality Stadium’s screens cut out as he walked to the ring.
“I don’t care if I spark him out, it goes 12 rounds or the ref ends it,” said Joshua, who occasionally dabbed at his nose during his post-fight press conference. “People want to see the fighters I fight unconscious every time.
“I was delivering: I put him down, I hurt him, I slashed both of his eyes, he was bleeding. My shorts and boots were pure white and now they’re pink. People wanted to see him unconscious and I was trying, but the ref’s job is to let the fighter live on another day.
“Takam was showing the ref his eyes were nearly hanging off from the cuts, they were deep. When he was stopped he wanted to carry on: that’s a fighter’s instinct. Twelve rounds is fine, the stoppage is fine: I’m happy I got the win and can move on.”
Respect to Takam. Onto a positive 2018 ???????????????? #AJBXNG pic.twitter.com/MP10NYQmqe
— Anthony Joshua (@anthonyfjoshua) October 28, 2017
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn had spoken post-fight of the intense pressure he fights under, and the heavyweight said: “You always have that instinct you want to hurt your opponent. I saw Takam was hurt a few times but didn’t want to go steaming in; I wanted the knockout to come naturally.
“You don’t see the headbutt coming, and it’s harder than a punch because it’s bone on bone, that crunch; it was just getting through that round.
“You really want 10 minutes to get yourself together, and it was managing it through the rounds because it was ready to start gushing with blood. (It stopped me breathing) a little bit. I’m happy the win’s secured and we’re moving on.”
When lions meet ???????? #AJBXNG pic.twitter.com/NZ0fsBAqVn
— Anthony Joshua (@anthonyfjoshua) October 28, 2017
Hearn also spoke of plans for Joshua to fight three times in 2018, beginning with March or April, and also said that the money involved in fighting in America would only be greater than that in the UK if they “get things right”.
Amid his plans to make an offer to American WBC champion Deontay Wilder to fight Dillian Whyte at London’s O2 Arena on February 3, it is increasingly likely his next fight will be in the UK, and Hearn said: “Boxing in October will allow you to get one in March, April time.
???????????? #AndStill #JoshuaTakam pic.twitter.com/ZDp9HqTo3C
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) October 28, 2017
“Look at the summer as well. We may have a mandatory (title defence) with the WBA, that’s a bit unclear. There’s (WBO champion) Joseph Parker, there’s Deontay Wilder. Takam’s very tough for someone who’s only had 20 fights.
“I’d like him to have an international fight in 2018, but it does seem a shame to leave all this behind. That’s the problem, because it’s incredible.
“At the moment (there’s more money) here, but if you get it right, America. He has a very long-term strategy.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article