Bookies not impressed by late Joshua stand-in
ANTHONY JOSHUA’S insistence that his substitute opponent will be a tougher nut to crack than his original world title challenger has not impressed the bookmakers. Joshua is priced as short as 1-66 to beat Carlos Takam, the late stand-in for Kabrat Pulev. The Cameroon-born Parisian, 36, is available at anything up to 18-1 to spring a huge upset under the roof of the Principality Stadium on Saturday week. His odds would be even longer but for his reputation as a heavy puncher. With 78,000 tickets sold before Pulev pulled out with a pectoral injury, revenue from the live gate will come close to the return on Wembley’s 90,000 crowd in April. That is a tribute to Joshua’s appeal beyond boxing,
a popularity boosted by his battle with Klitschko. He expects Takam to rebut the assertion — made by David Haye — that he is KO-prone. In fact, Takam has been stopped only once in 39 fights — and that by Alexander Povetkin in the 10th round of a bloody war in Moscow. Joshua is ready to be taken a similar, bruising distance by the man who approached him in a hotel lobby 16 months ago and challenged him to a fight. As he approaches the fourth defence of his IBF and WBA world titles, while looking to extend his perfect KO record, Joshua says: ‘Although this guy is shorter than me, he’s a big, heavy unit and has a head like a block of cement. ‘He is extremely durable and will be harder to knock out than Pulev and I expect it to take me 10 to 12 rounds to stop him.’ An added incentive for Joshua to do just that is the possibility of another glittering night at Wembley if Tyson Fury, with whom he has been in contact, follows through with his latest vow of making a comeback next year.