Greedy Joshua wants them all
TO BE UNDISPUTED HEAVYWEIGHT KING BY 2018 Brit expected to make light work of Cameroonian veteran in title showdown at Principality Stadium tonight.
Anthony Joshua hopes a successful fourth title defence today will keep him on course to achieve his goal of becoming undisputed world heavyweight champion in 2018.
Not every fight can be career-defining and Cameroon’s France-based Carlos Takam, Joshua’s opponent at the Principality Stadium, is hardly one of the biggest stars in the heavyweight division over which British boxer Joshua currently rules.
Takam, 36, was only drafted in at 12 days’ notice after Joshua’s original opponent Kubrat Pulev, of Bulgaria, pulled out with a shoulder injury.
He has three defeats in a 39-fight record and this will be his first world-title fight.
But it seems not to matter who is in the other corner when Joshua fights in the UK – fans will still turn up. Promoter Eddie Hearn claims a crowd of over 70 000 will take their seats at the Principality, the home of the Wales rugby union team.
Victory for Joshua, 28, both the International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Association champion, will see him return to fighting the division’s big names after his thrilling 11th round stoppage of Ukraine’s Wladimir Klitschko in front of 90 000 at Wembley in April.
Beating Klitschko, who reigned for a decade, was the highlight of 2012 Olympic champion Joshua’s four-year professional career.
There could be more epic encounters next year, with Hearn hoping Joshua can box three times in 2018 with the aim being to win the other two world title belts held by New Zealand’s Joseph Parker, the World Boxing Organisation champion, and American Deontay Wilder, who defends his World Boxing Council crown against Haiti’s Bermane Stiverne on November 4.
“We could fight Parker in February or March, so you have the WBO and then it’s only one more,” Hearn told reporters.
Keeping all four versions of the world title intact is a difficult job due to the different obligations from the rival world governing bodies.
“We want to become undisputed heavyweight champion and then probably we will have to vacate the belts,” said Hearn.
Joshua has yet to fight outside of the UK and has stopped all 19 of his professional opponents. – AFP