Stand-in is tougher, says Joshua

ANtHONy JOsHUA’s substitute opponent will be unknown to almost all the 80,000 crowd in cardiff’s Millennium stadium on saturday week. But for the world heavyweight champion this defence is against his stalker. carlos takam, the cameroonian-French fighter, has replaced the injured Kabrat Pulev but Joshua remembers being tracked down by him in a hotel near London’s 02 Arena more than a year ago. AJ had just knocked out Dominic Breazeale in the first defence of his world titles when ‘this big unit came of the shadows in the hotel lobby and it was takam,’ said Joshua (right). ‘He walked up to me and said “i want to fight you’’. ‘Honestly, this is a more dangerous fight than Pulev. takam weighs 22 stones. He’s a better all-round fighter. He is incredibly durable and will be harder to knock out.’