Anthony Joshua is a huge favourite ahead of his meeting with Carlos Takam in Cardiff. Saturday night’s bout sees Joshua facing the second stand in, following the retirement of Wladimir Klitschko and Kubrat Pulev pulling out at very late notice. That left little known Cameroon boxer Carlos Takam as the next in line to challenge Joshua, and this appears to be quite the mismatch.
In an effort to keep up their ticket sales, Joshua has been suggesting that this fight could run for 10 rounds before he wins. It’s odd seeing a boxer trash talk himself and compliment his rival in this age of social media quips and overhyped feuds. However, with 80,000 fans expecting a big night at the Millennium Stadium, Joshua has to keep up interest to avoid a clamour for refunds and general dissatisfaction.
Who Will Win The Fight?
Joshua’s prefight comments haven’t swayed the bookmakers, who have priced him at odds of just 1/33 with Betfred. Takam is a 12/1 shot with Bet365, while the draw can be backed at 33/1 with Ladbrokes. That shows just how one sided this contest is likely to be, so making the case for it lasting until the 10th round or beyond, as Joshua has suggested, is difficult. Any fan worried about leaving disappointed after a non-event might want to cover Joshua to win in Round 1, which is priced at 11/2 with BetVictor. However, that might be a little unfair on Takam. But only a little.
The challenger does have a solid record, winning 35 of his 39 fights, including 27 via KO. He’s only been beaten three times, but can Joshua deal out a fourth loss to the challenger from Douala? This is a huge step up in class for the challenger and he’s shown little to suggest he’s capable of making it.
Having won 19 straight fights by knockout, Joshua is the obvious favourite here. The fact that Takam has come up short against the likes of Joseph Parker and Alexander Povetkin doesn’t suggest that he can find any way to upset Joshua. While the champion is extremely short, we are fully expecting him to pick up a routine victory this weekend.
Betting Tip – Joshua at 1/33 with Betfred
Other Tips and Predictions
Most fights in Joshua’s career have been on the short side, so we expect this to wrap up early. Under 4.5 Total Rounds is our first pick here, which can be backed at 5/6 with BetVictor and gives a far bigger return than the simple bet on the champ to win.
Joshua in Rounds 1-3 at 11/10 with Betfair is another great value pick, given that the champion is a huge favourite to win this bout. He’s picked up the majority of his victories before the fourth round, so he should be able to record an early victory this weekend against a man who wasn’t even preparing for this clash just a few weeks ago.
We’re picking out the second round as the one where the champion wraps this fight up. We don’t expect Takam to be the obstacle that Joshua has been suggesting, so we’re backing a Joshua win in Round 2 at 9/2 with Coral. If you want some real bang for your buck then the round betting is the market to turn to and after a gentle first round we expect AJ to finish this off quickly.