To be fair, it wasn’t Anthony Joshua’s fault.
Joshua is accustomed to seeing his opponents go stiff or, at the very least, hit the deck before his hand is raised but the skull of Saturday’s opponent, Carlos Takam, is built of stern stuff and he simply refused to drop under the Brit’s furious flurries.
Towards the end of the tenth round in the Principality Stadium, referee Phil Edwards arrived at the decision that he’d seen enough and brought a halt to proceedings despite the apparently lucid protestations of Takam.
Takam deserved more than to be pulled from the fight at that particular time, having already rallied from nasty cuts to his eyes and harder shots earlier in the bout.
It wasn't easy but he got it done https://t.co/FRfZhmsGvo
— JOE (@JOE_co_uk) October 28, 2017
In what will have come as an unfamiliar noise for Joshua, boos rained down on the ring as the official waved the fight off.
The 78,000 in attendance were not jeering Joshua but the manner of the stoppage and the undefeated 28-year-old was asked for his take on the crowd’s reaction in his post-fight interview.
“As I said, I have no interest with what’s going on with the officials, that’s not my job,” Joshua said. “My job is to worry about my opponent.
“I was watching him, I was trying to break him down round by round and unfortunately, the ref stopped it. But, I think people wanna see Takam unconscious on the floor. Am I right?
“OK, now I understand! And that’s what I was trying to get to. 10 rounds, 11 rounds, 12 rounds – we were getting there.
“But like I said, I don’t have control over the ref’s decision. So, we get the win and now we’re on to a positive 2018.”
