It wasn’t as straightforward as many expected.
Most pundits expected Anthony Joshua to put late replacement Carlos Takam away in the early rounds of their Cardiff showdown on Saturday night.
But the tenacity and stubbornness of the challenger was clearly not taken into account as Takam ate the best shots of ‘AJ’ and continued to plod forward.
And while Joshua eventually got the 20th win of his career inside the distance courtesy of a premature stoppage from referee Phil Edwards, the Brit did not escape unscathed.
A crunching headbutt from Takam in the second round clattered against Joshua’s nose and affect his breathing for the rounds that immediately followed the clash of heads.
Immediately after the fight, Joshua suggested that his nose was broken by the headbutt.
“It feels it is (broken),” Joshua said in his post-fight interview.
“He’s like Holyfield coming under and up. This is championship fighting. I had to keep my cool in there.
“You have to control these situations, if I show any signs of weakness the referee could jump in.”
Promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed the three opponents that Joshua will meet in 2018 but Joshua’s priority was understandably getting his nose seen to by a doctor before setting his eyes on his next outing.
“I want to get my nose cracked back in place first,” Joshua said. “We have a few months now to heal it up and get a doctor to look at it, we work with some great doctors and then we can get back in training.
“But honestly, I just want to continue to grow the sport of boxing and everyone knows where we’re heading.”
