JOSHUA GOES FOR 20TH K.O IN 20 FIGHTS AGAINST TAKAM
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 27 Oct 2017
Anthony Joshua will make the first defense of his three heavyweight titles IBF, WBA and IBO on Saturday in a fight that could earn the 20th knockout of his pro boxing career. As of now, the British champ has a 100% KO record. Joshua will face the challenge of the late replacement Carlos Takam of Cameroon at Cardiff's Principality Stadium. But if "AJ" has an immaculate record as a pro, he was able to taste the bitterness of a knockout as an amateur fighter.
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The last man to stop Joshua was Romanian fighter Mihai Nistor during the 2011 European championships in Ankara, Turkey just a year before the Briton won the gold medal in London and went on to dominate the heavyweight division. Joshua is a late comer to boxing and he was so successful as to having a perfect record that experts believe only Tyson Fury or Deontay Wilder could probably put a halt to his extraordinary 19-0, 19 KO record.
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"It was a special day, my trainer told me not to worry, Joshua is big but he'll go down quickly if you punch him correctly," Nistor told BBC. "I didn't know who he was or what he was going to become, he was a good boxer, he was moving all the time and he had a strong punch." I beat him in 2011 and in 2012 he was an Olympic champion," he added. Joshua's amateur experiemce was not as sensational as his pro career, with the Nistor loss one of his three defeats in 43 contests.
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Anthony Joshua is always hopeful of an all-British world heavyweight title fight with Tyson Fury despite the former champion's struggle to return to the ring. Fury has not fought since defeating Wladimir Klitschko to win the IBF, WBA, IBO and WBO titles in December 2015 after being discovered using drugs and stripped of his licence by the British Boxing Board of Control. His chances of a return declined when Fury declared he would not re-apply license to the BBBoC to fight again.
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But Joshua has kept his options open to fight Fury, provided that he can get himself into shape. "If he wants to get in the ring and he shows he can move about and control that weight, people will watch him," said Joshua. "But if he comes back at that weight and he's getting into trouble against journeymen, then people won't be interested. So it's how he performs at his new weight." Many would still want to see Fury fight again. But Joshua wants to stick to his plans to unify the heavyweight titles.
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A fight with WBO champion Joseph Parker, who beat Fury's cousin Hughie in an encounter in Manchester last month, may happen early next year, as well as a WBA mandatory defense, then a prospective clash with reigning WBC king Deontay Wilder. The aim of the camp of Joshua is to fight three times next year preferably in March, April or summer then December. "In a perfect world, two of the three fights would be for the additional belts in any order," promoter Eddie Hearn said.
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Miguel Cotto speaks publicly about Hurricane Maria which attacked Puerto Rico on September 20, taking away 51 lives and causing billions of dollars in damages. ?It is the biggest disaster I ever saw in my life,? Cotto was quoted by BoxingScene. ?I saw my island destroyed.? After a month, a large area of Puerto Rico are still powerless and other basic services were hampered. Golden Boy Promotions were worried for several days after they failed to contact him.
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Cotto and his family were physically unharmed , as they provided assistance to others in his locality, sharing out part of what they saved to those who had greater damage. ?What we can do is help each other and for the benefit of Puerto Rico we do that," Cotto said. ?When I am here and training I am always with Puerto Rico on my mind every day, but because of the situation we passed through it is more meaningful,? Cotto added. ?I am going to make the best effort to touch as much of Puerto Rico as possible.?
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Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor was recorded to earn 4.4 million US buys, while Manny Pacquiao vs. Mayweather in May 2015 sold 4.6 million. UFC boss Dana White is convinced "MayMac" has surpassed "MayPac" and says that the cross-combat showdown broke the PPV records in several other countries around the world. ?Oh, we broke the record. The thing ended up doing 6.7 million pay-per-view buys globally,? White told The Wall Street Journal.
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?How about this: we broke the record in Australia; we broke the record in the U.K., at four in the morning, four in the morning, we broke the pay-per-view record; broke the record in Spain, Canada, and the United States.? The exhilarating numbers become more surprising with some websites like Periscope and Facebook Live were streaming these events illegally. ?We broke that record too. Most pirated fight of all time. That's another record we broke,? White joked.
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When asked if the fight did well in the betting, White answered the clash was the highest in betting history. ?It was the highest betting fight ever in the history of Las Vegas... highest betting sporting event. Bigger than the Super Bowl.? There are now rumors circulating that Mayweather and McGregor will fight in a second encounter in 2018, with HBO's Jim Lampley commenting that the first fight was fixed by Mayweather to the advantage of McGregor in the opening rounds so that it will be closer.
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Most wins in heavyweight title bouts:
1. Joe Louis 26
2. Wladimir Klitschko 25
3. Muhammad Ali 22
4. Larry Holmes 21
5. Lennox Lewis 15
6. Vitali Klitschko 15
7. Mike Tyson 12
8. Tommy Burns 11
9. Joe Frazier 10
10. Evander Holyfield 10
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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