- Wants nose reset before fights with Wilder, Parker
Following his successful defence of his heavyweight titles against Carlos Takam, Nigeria-born world boxing champion, Anthony Joshua, has confessed that his nose was impaired by his opponent during the fight.
Speaking after he defeated Cameroon-born Takam in the 10th round of their bout in Cardiff, Wales’ largest city in the United Kingdom, via a controversial technical knock-out, Joshua said his nose got broken during a head clash.
Joshua, as a result, wanted his suspected broken nose to be back into place first, before targeting super fights against the like of Deontay Wilder and Joseph Parker in 2018.
The IBF and WBA Super heavyweight champion sustained the injury after Takam’s head clashed straight on to the bridge of his nose.
But Joshua dug deep and rallied on, to record a 10th-round stoppage against a valiant Takam, who himself suffered two horrendous cuts.
After the victory, Joshua, pointing at his nose, said, “It feels it! (broken).
“He (Takam) was 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 showed any signs of weakness (during the fight), the referee could jump in.’
After successfully defending his belts, the 28-year-old revealed he was ready for the biggest and the best in the heavyweight division, but wanted his nose sorted first.
“I want to get my nose cracked back in place first. 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.”
Joshua had endured a frustrating night before eventually stopping Takam and defending his IBF and WBA heavyweight titles in 10 rounds in Cardiff.
However, after the referee stopped the fight in the 10th round following a bombardment on Takam, there were boos from the crowd as they would have preferred his outright knocking down on the canvass, to be convinced he was incapable of continuing with the fight.
Being his first fight after ending the career of the great and once-dominant Wladimir Klitschko, Joshua required his advantages in size, speed and power to gradually wear down Takam, his previously little-known opponent from France.
Bigger fights against superior opponents are expected to follow in 2018 – but in defeating his mandatory challenger and excluding that with Klitschko, the Briton unexpectedly faced the toughest match-up of his career.
