In this video interview captured by FightHub, Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn talks about this weekend’s fight between Anthony Joshua and Carlos Takam. Among other things, Hearn talks about what dangers Takam brings as a late fill-in opponent.
“...the danger in this fight is people just presume that ‘cause they’ve not heard of Carlos Takam that Josh is just gonna steamroll him through. You know what, he might. But people in the game know, and I’m talking to them, ‘you know this ain’t a great style for Josh, this guy. You know he’s got a great work rate, you know he can punch with the left hook’ and I’m thinking ‘alright’ [with a surprised face].
“So in that sense, yeah, I’m looking forward that midnight on Saturday where hopefully he retains his heavyweight title. We’ll sit back, we’ll have a beer, and we’ve enjoyed a great night in another unforgettable atmosphere.”
Hearn on his impression of Takam:
“Well he hit the pads for about 20 minutes, and he was only supposed to do it for 2 minutes. I think he’s just up for it. That’s the best way to describe it. He’s relishing the opportunity, he believes he can win, I think he’s excited. And again, that’s all the things that you don’t really want...
“Carlos Takam is Carlos Takam. He’s not going to change on Saturday. There’s things you know about Carlos Takam that won’t change. He’s got a great chin. He’s got a great work rate. He can punch with both hands, and he’s gonna hound you. But he’s also gonna run into a steam train, Anthony Joshua, but I want this fight over by five rounds, six rounds. ‘Cause then it’s gonna get really tough.
“But the problem is AJ loves a dogfight. Like when I told him about Takam he was quite excited because he’s ‘that would be a good fight!’ With Pulev he was like ‘it’s gonna be fiddly, I’m gonna outbox him,’ but he’s like ‘Oh, that’ll be a war [against Takam].’ And I’m like ‘well it doesn’t have to be a war, you can just box him.’...but you just can’t take that out of AJ, he just, he loves to fight.”