Cardiff (United Kingdom), Oct 29 (AFP) Anthony Joshuamaintained his 100 per cent knockout ratio by stopping abloodied Carlos Takam in the tenth round.
The English boxer retained his International BoxingFederation and World Boxing Association world heavyweighttitles with a devastating display of his punching power tofinish Cameroon's France-based challenger at the PrincipalityStadium.
Takam became Joshua's 20th consecutive knockout victim ina fourth defence of his IBF belt and first of his WBA title,but the challenger stubbornly resisted the champion afterbeing cut by the right eye in the fourth round.
"It was a good fight until the ref stopped it. I have theupmost respect for Takam," said Joshua, who injured his nosefrom a headbutt in the second round.
"Imagine if it's broke and I couldn't breath and hestarted catching up in the middle rounds? It would have been adisaster, so I kept my cool. You have to control thesesituations because, if I showed any signs of weakness, the refcould have jumped in."Takam was also given a count in the fourth round beforebeing finished off by a barrage of unanswered punches whichprompted the referee Phil Edwards to stop it.
Takam complained it was a premature stoppage, which wasjeered by Joshua's fans, and the challenger was given warmapplause afterwards.
"I don't think they should have stopped it," said Takam.
"I want the rematch if Anthony gives me it."Takam, 36, had only accepted his first world title shotat less than two weeks' notice and fought for most of thefight with a gruesome cut which obscured his vision.
For Takam, it was a fourth career defeat after a pointsloss to Parker last year and knockout loss to Russia'sAlexander Povetkin in 2014.
Takam, who boxed for Cameroon at the 2004 Olympics beforerelocating to Paris a year later, was drafted in as a latereplacement opponent at 12 days' notice after Bulgaria'sKubrat Pulev injured a shoulder.
Joshua made an especially cautious start, not landing anypower punches in the opening round, as he took time to assessTakam, who fought out of a crouch and burst forward withpunches.Joshua landed a good left-right combination in thesecond round, but did not have as much success in the third.
In the fourth, Takam suffered a nasty cut by the righteye from a big right from Joshua which caused him problemsinstantly with his vision due to the blood.
When the fight continued, Takam was caught by a left thatsent him spinning and was given a count as his glove was ruledto have touched down.
Takam bravely fought back in the fifth but Joshua teedoff on him in the sixth, landing heavy, unanswered blows.
Takam had some of his best moments of the fight in theseventh round as he repeatedly caught Joshua.
Joshua tried to regain momentum in the eighth with twoleft hands that shook Takam, who was inspected by the ringsidedoctor at the start of the ninth round.
Takam was allowed to fight on but in the tenth he wasshook by a right to the head and as Joshua unloaded morepunches that landed flush, referee Phil Edwards stopped thefight.
On the undercard, Dillian Whyte unanimously out-pointedFinland's Robert Helenius by scores of 119-109 twice and 118-110 to move into contention for a shot at the WBC worldheavyweight title.
Ireland's Katie Taylor won a world title in her seventhprofessional fight after unanimously out-pointing AnahiSanchez for the vacant WBA lightweight belt by three scores of99-90.
England's Kal Yafai also unanimously out-pointed Japan'sSho Ishida in a second defence of his WBA world super-flyweight title, winning by scores of 118-110, 116-112 and116-112. (AFP) CMCM.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.
