BoxRec

Carlos Takam has replaced Kubrat Pulev as the IBF mandatory challenger for Anthony Joshua at Principality Stadium in Cardiff on October 28. Takam is rated at IBF #3 and gets his golden chance after Pulev picked up a shoulder injury in sparring.

“I received a call from Kalle Sauerland late afternoon today to inform me that Pulev had injured his shoulder and may be ruled out of the fight – this was later confirmed by his doctor,” said promoter Eddie Hearn. “IBF rules state that the mandatory will go to the next fighter in line which is Carlos Takam. When the Pulev fight was announced I made a deal with Takam’s team to begin camp and be on standby for this fight.
“When I called them this evening they were overjoyed and good to go. It’s a difficult position for AJ having prepared meticulously for the style and height of Pulev, he now faces a completely different style and challenge in Takam – this hasn’t happened in his career before but he is ready for all comers on October 28.”

Joshua’s clash with Takam is part of a huge night of action in Cardiff where the 2012 London Olympic Gold medal man’s bitter foe Dillian Whyte aims to take a giant step to his first World title shot by facing Robert Helenius for the WBC Silver strap.-fightnews.com

Pish

I love how the media team around AJ are saying "this is a real risk", "he hasn't prepared for this".

Boxing doesn't always have to be complicated, sometimes it is a case of just fighting someone a bit smaller. It isn't like Takam is a southpaw, or a foot taller, he is simply a bit smaller. Takam isn't necessarily that much worse than Pulev, I think it ends in the first 4.

Thanks for the breaking news.

chuck9788 wrote:Carlos Takam has replaced Kubrat Pulev as the IBF mandatory challenger for Anthony Joshua at Principality Stadium in Cardiff on October 28. Takam is rated at IBF #3 and gets his golden chance after Pulev picked up a shoulder injury in sparring.

“I received a call from Kalle Sauerland late afternoon today to inform me that Pulev had injured his shoulder and may be ruled out of the fight – this was later confirmed by his doctor,” said promoter Eddie Hearn. “IBF rules state that the mandatory will go to the next fighter in line which is Carlos Takam. When the Pulev fight was announced I made a deal with Takam’s team to begin camp and be on standby for this fight.
“When I called them this evening they were overjoyed and good to go. It’s a difficult position for AJ having prepared meticulously for the style and height of Pulev, he now faces a completely different style and challenge in Takam – this hasn’t happened in his career before but he is ready for all comers on October 28.”

Joshua’s clash with Takam is part of a huge night of action in Cardiff where the 2012 London Olympic Gold medal man’s bitter foe Dillian Whyte aims to take a giant step to his first World title shot by facing Robert Helenius for the WBC Silver strap.-fightnews.com

I like the match-up and the fact Hearn had a standby fight... That's a smart promoter who covers all the bases and doesn't rely on chance... You'd do the same thing if you were training to fight David Haye -- you'd need a standby fight in case he gets injured in training... Takam definitely beat Joseph Parker -- and he's much better fighter than the elderly, slow, washed up, injury prone, head in the air, left hook eating Kubrat Pulev.. This should go 6 or 7 good ones

Kalan wrote:

chuck9788 wrote:Carlos Takam has replaced Kubrat Pulev as the IBF mandatory challenger for Anthony Joshua at Principality Stadium in Cardiff on October 28. Takam is rated at IBF #3 and gets his golden chance after Pulev picked up a shoulder injury in sparring.

“I received a call from Kalle Sauerland late afternoon today to inform me that Pulev had injured his shoulder and may be ruled out of the fight – this was later confirmed by his doctor,” said promoter Eddie Hearn. “IBF rules state that the mandatory will go to the next fighter in line which is Carlos Takam. When the Pulev fight was announced I made a deal with Takam’s team to begin camp and be on standby for this fight.
“When I called them this evening they were overjoyed and good to go. It’s a difficult position for AJ having prepared meticulously for the style and height of Pulev, he now faces a completely different style and challenge in Takam – this hasn’t happened in his career before but he is ready for all comers on October 28.”

Joshua’s clash with Takam is part of a huge night of action in Cardiff where the 2012 London Olympic Gold medal man’s bitter foe Dillian Whyte aims to take a giant step to his first World title shot by facing Robert Helenius for the WBC Silver strap.-fightnews.com

I like the match-up and the fact Hearn had a standby fight... That's a smart promoter who covers all the bases and doesn't rely on chance... You'd do the same thing if you were training to fight David Haye -- you'd need a standby fight in case he gets injured in training... Takam definitely beat Joseph Parker -- and he's much better fighter than the elderly, slow, washed up, injury prone, head in the air, left hook eating Kubrat Pulev.. This should go 6 or 7 good ones

I totally agree with this with the exception of the ridiculous claim on the Parker decision. Takam will put up a much better fight. The only chance either would have is sheer exhaustion from AJ and Carlos is much more equipped to attempt to get there.

Good replacement opponent on short notice.

Pulev would have been the harder fight for Joshua.

Joshua should win this one. How easily he can do it will tell us lot about Joshuas level.

It is funny that Joshua can get better opponent in two weeks than Wilder in three years

Takam will make more money than Wilder ever has, much less his opponents.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:Takam will make more money than Wilder ever has, much less his opponents.

Good for him, Pulev was in gtd $4m I presume Takam will get the same or similar, he deserves it he's a brace guy.

No conspiracy theories yet? Hearn put Takam on standby after the Pulev fight was announced. Must be Al Haymon's or Wilder's fault somehow...

Or, maybe Pulev didn't want the fight in the first place, after turning down Joshua last year? Regardless, nothing more than a tune up for AJ.

Nightmare Roy wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:Takam will make more money than Wilder ever has, much less his opponents.

Good for him, Pulev was in gtd $4m I presume Takam will get the same or similar, he deserves it he's a brace guy.

Definitely good for him. It's just worth mentioning when someone is chiding Wilder for not being able to get the same caliber of late replacement.

Here's a question...can you name 1 heavyweight fight in 2017, other than Wlad/AJ, that was announced and NOT cancelled or modified in some way?

loads ... unless you mean title fights, that's a lot trickier.

For those of you that are more familiar with the inside stuff of the fight game, is it common practice to make deals with a substitute after a deal is signed with another opponent? To me it seems very odd. Hearn said he made a deal with Takam's team to be on standby.

I assume they had a feeling Pulev would back out of the fight?

Badhusker wrote:No conspiracy theories yet? Hearn put Takam on standby after the Pulev fight was announced. Must be Al Haymon's or Wilder's fault somehow...

Or, maybe Pulev didn't want the fight in the first place, after turning down Joshua last year? Regardless, nothing more than a tune up for AJ.

I can’t say it’s a tune up when it’s a replacement for 2 weeks. It’s a fulfilling mandatory and keeping the event running Instead if losing a shite load of cash

Badhusker wrote:For those of you that are more familiar with the inside stuff of the fight game, is it common practice to make deals with a substitute after a deal is signed with another opponent? To me it seems very odd. Hearn said he made a deal with Takam's team to be on standby.

I assume they had a feeling Pulev would back out of the fight?

Not sure, maybe they had a feeling, maybe they didn’t. It’s a good move having a replacement set up though as it’s not a bad opponent all things considered. Better than drafting in a sparring partner like Parker did when fury pulled out

Badhusker wrote:For those of you that are more familiar with the inside stuff of the fight game, is it common practice to make deals with a substitute after a deal is signed with another opponent? To me it seems very odd. Hearn said he made a deal with Takam's team to be on standby.

I assume they had a feeling Pulev would back out of the fight?

It's standard in the top nowadays, especially with guys like Wilder around, you learn such things, or in every case, the better promotors do. Povetkin also had to have Duhaupas standby because he knew that Wilder and his friends, like Stiverne could pull out for no reason.

That's an interesting question, perhaps one for say, Kugan Cassius to ask Eddie Hearn. I don't know if it's standard practice but it makes a lot of sense when you think how much time, effort,and money has gone into the logistics and the planning for the event.

For those turning their nose up at Carlos Takam, how would you feel about Razvan Cojanu instead? Or even the formidable two fights in three years (one loss, one climb off the canvas to unconvincingly outpoint a journeyman) Bermane Stiverne?

I don't suppose it's a difficult sell for Eddie Hearn either. It can't be too difficult to find someone in the top 10 or 15 willing to get ready to step in if required for a handsome pay-out, and a guaranteed regular fight for decent money if your services aren't needed. I guess it's not so easy without someone like 'Sky' behind you.

As for whether Pulev was a flight-risk, well he has never seemed as committed to fighting Joshua as most of his previous victims and potential challengers have been that's undeniable, but training injuries are always a potential banana-skin

I'm not suggesting for a moment that Pulev's injury wasn't genuine, let me make that clear.

asdfjkl wrote:

Badhusker wrote:For those of you that are more familiar with the inside stuff of the fight game, is it common practice to make deals with a substitute after a deal is signed with another opponent? To me it seems very odd. Hearn said he made a deal with Takam's team to be on standby.

I assume they had a feeling Pulev would back out of the fight?

It's standard in the top nowadays, especially with guys like Wilder around, you learn such things, or in every case, the better promotors do. Povetkin also had to have Duhaupas standby because he knew that Wilder and his friends, like Stiverne could pull out for no reason.

Standard? Name one other instance. Lmao

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:

asdfjkl wrote:

Badhusker wrote:For those of you that are more familiar with the inside stuff of the fight game, is it common practice to make deals with a substitute after a deal is signed with another opponent? To me it seems very odd. Hearn said he made a deal with Takam's team to be on standby.

I assume they had a feeling Pulev would back out of the fight?

It's standard in the top nowadays, especially with guys like Wilder around, you learn such things, or in every case, the better promotors do. Povetkin also had to have Duhaupas standby because he knew that Wilder and his friends, like Stiverne could pull out for no reason.

Standard? Name one other instance. Lmao

asdfjkl intimated that Ortiz couldn't find a bilingual person in Miami to translate his contract.

Tony1244 wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:

asdfjkl wrote: It's standard in the top nowadays, especially with guys like Wilder around, you learn such things, or in every case, the better promotors do. Povetkin also had to have Duhaupas standby because he knew that Wilder and his friends, like Stiverne could pull out for no reason.

Standard? Name one other instance. Lmao

asdfjkl intimated that Ortiz couldn't find a bilingual person in Miami to translate his contract.

Barely anyone out there can speak fluent French, English and Spanish actually. Especially in America with so many retards.

asdfjkl wrote:

Tony1244 wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote: Standard? Name one other instance. Lmao

asdfjkl intimated that Ortiz couldn't find a bilingual person in Miami to translate his contract.

Barely anyone out there can speak fluent French, English and Spanish actually. Especially in America with so many retards.

1) I literally exemplified how easy translation was.
2) Once again Miami is very bilingual.
3) There are a lot of retards in America, so you're going to have to do better with those insults.

Tony1244 wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:

asdfjkl wrote: It's standard in the top nowadays, especially with guys like Wilder around, you learn such things, or in every case, the better promotors do. Povetkin also had to have Duhaupas standby because he knew that Wilder and his friends, like Stiverne could pull out for no reason.

Standard? Name one other instance. Lmao

asdfjkl intimated that Ortiz couldn't find a bilingual person in Miami to translate his contract.

He's a very challenged dwarf.

Tony1244 wrote:

asdfjkl wrote:

Tony1244 wrote:

asdfjkl intimated that Ortiz couldn't find a bilingual person in Miami to translate his contract.

Barely anyone out there can speak fluent French, English and Spanish actually. Especially in America with so many retards.

1) I literally exemplified how easy translation was.
2) Once again Miami is very bilingual.
3) There are a lot of retards in America, so you're going to have to do better with those insults.

You literally sit behind a computer doing it, in reality you get a paper, not a computer.
Go ahead, when you get tested, convince the tester you have to go out on the street to find someone who can speak French, Spanish and English, and all of them fluent. And remember, these are boxers, not lawyers or anything like that.

asdfjkl wrote:

Tony1244 wrote:

asdfjkl wrote: Barely anyone out there can speak fluent French, English and Spanish actually. Especially in America with so many retards.

1) I literally exemplified how easy translation was.
2) Once again Miami is very bilingual.
3) There are a lot of retards in America, so you're going to have to do better with those insults.

You literally sit behind a computer doing it, in reality you get a paper, not a computer.
Go ahead, when you get tested, convince the tester you have to go out on the street to find someone who can speak French, Spanish and English, and all of them fluent. And remember, these are boxers, not lawyers or anything like that.

As I've said, if a top 10 boxer can't find a bilingual lawyer in Miami, he is even too stupid to box.