By Scott Gilfoid: Anthony Joshua could be as light as 235 pounds for his title defense this month against #3 IBF Carlos Takam (35-3-1, 27 KOs) on October 28, according to promoter Eddie Hearn. He says Joshua (19-0, 19 KOs) has trimmed down for this fight from the 250 lbs. he weight for his last contest against 41-year-old Wladimir Klitschko on April 29.
(Photo credit Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)
Hearn says Joshua will be from 10 to 14 lbs. lighter for this fight against the 36-year-oldTakam in their fight at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.
Joshua will be defending his IBF/WBA heavyweight titles against replacement opponent Takam on October 28. Joshua was supposed to fight against his IBF mandatory Kubrat Pulev, but he suffered an injury to his right shoulder training for the fight.
Takam is a volume puncher with good power. He’s not the stongest puncher in the heavyweight division, but he has the ability to throw a lot of shots to help tire Joshua out in this fight. If Takam can handle the power of Joshua long enough to test his chin many times in the first 6 rounds, we could see a new heavyweight world champion on October 28. It might not matter that Joshua is coming into the fight lighter.
Being heavy isn’t always what tires out fighters. What tires them out is the combination of a poor cardiovascular system and large muscles. In the pictures I’ve seen of Joshua, he still looks very heavily muscled for a fighter. I think he might gas out just as bad as he did against Wladimir if Takam forces him to fight at a fast pace in this fight.
If Joshua can get to 235 pounds, it would be the lightest he’s been since his fight with Denis Bakhtov in October 2014. Joshua weighed 236 lbs. for that fight. However, in Joshua’s two previous fights he had weighed 240 and 239 in 2014 for his fights against Konstantin Airch and Matt Skelton. Hearn says Joshua is looking really powerful. I’m not sure if he believes that Joshua is going to be more powerful for having lost 10-15 lbs. or just powerful in general. I don’t think anyone is more powerful when they lose that kind of weight, especially when it’s muscle weight like it is with Joshua.
It’s not hard to see why Joshua has decided to come in lighter for this fight. Joshua looked like a pumped up balloon against Klitschko in their fight at the Wembley Stadium in London, England. Looking like he was ready to compete in the Mr. Universe body building contest, Joshua completely gassed out in round 6 of the fight against Wladimir. It took Joshua 4 rounds for him to get his second wind. Joshua was exhausted from the 6th until the 10th round.
It was embarrassing that a heavyweight world champion could have such poor stamina like Joshua showed against Wladimir. The fact that Joshua’s trainer let him get that heavy during training camp is extremely troubling. Normally trainers give their fighters feedback when they start getting too bulky. It would be interesting to know what Joshua’s trainer said to him after he packed on increasingly more weight since last year.
“Josh is hitting very hard,” Hearn said to skysports.com. “You’re going to see him come in lighter in this fight. You’re going to see him extra fast, with extra spite. As far as I’m concerned, [Joshua is] the most exciting fighter in world boxing, ready to do the business next Saturday. I think he could be 10 pounds, even a stone lighter than he was in the Klitschko fight.”
I don’t agree that Joshua is the most exciting fighter in the world. Hearn is exaggerating. Joshua isn’t even the most exciting fighter in the heavyweight division. I rate Deontay Wilder, Luis Ortiz and Jarrell Miller as all being more exciting. Daniel Dubois and Joe Joyce are more exciting as well, because they don’t mess around with jabbing. They go right after their opponents. I do think Joshua has an exciting style of fighting, but I wouldn’t rate him as the most exciting fighter in boxing like Hearn is doing.
It’s doubtful that Joshua losing 15 lbs. is going to dramatically change the way he gasses out or increase his hand speed. Joshua wasn’t fast even when he was weighing 225 lbs. in the 2012 London Olympics. He wasn’t fast of hand compared to guys like Mike Tyson. When Joshua was weighing 235 lbs. in
Joshua weighed 230 lbs. when he turned pro in 2013. He should have kept his weight right there or backed it off to 225, the weight that he had won the Olympic gold medal at in 2012. Instead, Joshua hit the weight room and started packing on muscles like it was going out of style. I remember seeing video of Joshua working out in the weight room back in 2013, I thought to myself that he was going to balloon up to 250 lbs. in the next 4 years of his career if he didn’t stop lifting. Sure enough, Joshua put on 20 lbs. of useless muscle and was weighing 250 lbs. starting in 2017.
Joshua was already 249 lbs. last year for his mismatch against Eric Molina in December of 2016. For Joshua, that was a 6 lb. increase in weight from just 4 months. It’s incredibly to pack on even 5 lbs. of natural muscle in 1 year, and Joshua did it in 4 months. He was clearly lifting a lot of weights and not missing meals for him to gain that much muscle weight.
Joshua was able to get away with being that muscular due to him facing weak heavyweights that didn’t have the talent, chin or the courage to go after him the way that Wladimir did last April. Joshua had to find out the hard way that he’d put too much muscle weight on. It was lucky that he was able to beat Wladimir, because he could have lost that fight. A lot of Joshua’s boxing fans would have jumped ship if Wladimir had knocked him out instead of vice versa.
It may not matter how light Joshua is. He doesn’t seem like he has a good engine on him. It might help that Joshua is lighter for the Takam fight, but we could see him gas out like he did in the Klitschko and Dillain Whyte fights. I’m just saying. Joshua weighed 245 lbs. for the Whyte fight, and he still gassed out in the 2nd round. Joshua stayed tired until the 6th.