Joshua: Late switch was a tough test

Anthony Joshua acknowledged the fact he had had only 12 days to prepare for Carlos Takam contributed to his struggle to secure the explosive knockout expected of him.

Though he consistently dominated the latest defence of his IBF and WBA titles on Saturday, he took until the 10th round to stop the Frenchman, and to significant dissatisfaction.

The 36-year-old protested when referee Phil Edwards rescued him amid increasing punishment, Joshua refused to celebrate, and many of the estimated 76,000 crowd booed when he did so.

Takam’s resilience was even more impressive given he had replaced the injured Kubrat Pulev, a bigger and different style of fighter, with so little notice after the Bulgarian’s withdrawal through injury.

Joshua said: “Against Pulev, I’d have been able to have been a little bit more effective.

“Takam went down in the fourth; maybe Pulev wouldn’t have made it through the fourth.

“Takam was shorter, he knows how to ride that right hand; that’s what made it interesting with the change of opponent. He deals with guys like me every day in the gym; he’s naturally got a shorter style, and I don’t deal with guys like Takam every day.

“It was just going to be a little bit more difficult but with him, certain mistakes I could have been making five fights ago I’m not going to make any more against someone like him.

“All they want to do is land one shot; he knows his durability so wants to stay in the ring for 10 rounds, 11 rounds, and try and land that one sweet haymaker.”

Joshua’s trainer, Rob McCracken, said; “Takam wasn’t ideal with 12 days’ notice.

“It was obviously tricky because Takam’s short, squat, awkward, dynamic at times, but Anthony got the job done and found a way to win each round and close the show despite a bad head collision.

“He’ll learn from this, get stronger and smarter.”