Hearn offers Michael Hunter a fight with Carlos Takam on Dec.22

By Boxing News - 11/30/2018 - Comments

Image: Hearn offers Michael Hunter a fight with Carlos Takam on Dec.22

By Scott Gilfoid: Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn has offered 2012 U.S Olympian Michael Hunter (16-1, 11 KOs) a fight against former world heavyweight title challenger Carlos Takam (35-5-1, 27 KOs) on the Dillian Whyte vs. Dereck Chisora card on Sky Box Office PPV on December 22 at the O2 Arena in London, England. Hunter says he likes the idea of taking the fight, but he’d like it even more if the fight could get pushed back to January. However, Hearn wants Hunter to accept the fight against the 37-year-old Takem on the December 22 card, and it’s unclear whether there would an opportunity for the American to fight him in January like he wishes.

The basic problem for Hunter is there would be very little time to prepare for the fight against Takam before December 22. Hunter has already had back to back fights with little rest in between against Martin Bakole Ilunga and Alexander Ustinov. Hunter won both fights and looked impressive in each of them. Hunter stopped Ustinov in the 9th round on November 24 in Monte Carlo. If Hunter accepts the fight against Takam, he would need to start training immediately and he’d have less than a month to prepare for the fight.

“It looks like Takam will definitely be on. Whether that’s Michael Hunter? That’s all down to you,” Hearn said to skysports.com. ”Let’s see if he wants to come and party with us on December 22.”

Takam has been stopped in his last two fights against Dereck Chisora and Anthony Joshua in 2017 and 2018. It would not only be a hardship for Hunter to take the fight against Takam, but it would also be a problem for Carlos. It’s important that Takam win his next fight to end his 2-fight losing streak. Taking another loss right now would be a major blow to Takam’s career. He obviously wants another world title shot. Fighting Hunter on less than a month’s notice would put Takam at a big risk of losing his third straight fight and he could see himself get pushed even further down in the rankings with the four sanctioning bodies at heavyweight. Takam is a good fighter, but he’s getting up there in age at 37, and he’s taken some punishment in losses to Joshua, Chisora, Alexander Povetkin and Joseph Parker in the last four years.

“I would love that [Carlos Takam] fight, that’s a beautiful fight for me to have,” Hunter said to skysports.com. ”On December 22, I feel I would need a little more time, just because of the two fights I’ve already done.”

Hearn wanting Hunter to take the fight on short notice makes you wonder whether he wants him beaten. If it’s a take it or leave it offer from Hearn to fight Takam on December 22, then you have to figure that he wants him to lose the fight.

Takam looked pretty good against Chisora up until getting stopped in the 8th round. Takam was beating Chisora up in that fight, and had his face looking lumped up badly and bruised at the time of the stoppage. Chisora landed a classic looping right hand that caught Takam behind the head and hurt him. Chisora then landed another shot that caught him in the back of the head that led to him being knocked down twice. The referee should have waived the knockdowns off due to the rabbit punches that were involved, but he let them stand.

Instead of Hearn offering Hunter a fight against a guy with two consecutive losses in Takam, he should be offering him either the winner or the loser of the Whyte vs. Chisora II. A lot of boxing fans would like to see Hunter fight Whyte or Chisora, as it would give the fans a chance to see how good they are. We already know that Whyte is a flawed fighter from seeing him struggle against Joseph Parker and Anthony Joshua. He lost to Joshua by a 7th round knockout in 2015, and he got a controversial win over Parker last July. Chisora would be a good option for Hunter as well. Chisora would be there to be hit, and it would be an exciting fight from start to finish.

Hunter says he would be interested in potentially facing Takam on December 22, but it ”has to make sense.” In other words, Hearn would likely need to make it worthwhile for Hunter to take the fight against Takam on short notice by coming up with enough green stuff to make the risk worth it. After all, Hunter would be taking a major risk by fighting a talented heavyweight like Takam on short notice. Both fighters are known for the high work rates. Takam gave Alexander Povetkin all kinds of problems before getting stopped in the 10th round in October 2014. That was far from an easy fight for Povetkin. He took a lot of punishment from Takam until the latter fighter faded in the late rounds. Takam has wins over former two time heavyweight world title challenger Tony Thompson, Frans Botha and Gbenga Oluokun. Takam was arguably robbed in his fight against a prime Mike Perez in January 2014 in a fight that was ruled a 10 round draw. Boxing News 24 had Takam winning that fight by a seven rounds to three score.

It would be a big test for Hunter to take a fight against Takam on short notice after his back to back fights against Ustinov and Martin Bakole Ilunga, but it would show a lot about the fighter if he did take the fight and win. If Hunter is able to beat Takam in a convincing manner, it would be a big accomplishment. Obviously it wouldn’t be as big a deal as it would have been before Takam lost back to back fights against Joshua and Chisora, but it would still mean a lot. Hunter would be in a tough situation though, as he would need to do a better job of beating Takam than Chisora did for him to get out of the fight with him looking great. If Hunter barely beats Takam, then it would give the impression that he’s not as good as Chisora, who basically is little more than a high level journeyman at this point in his career. Chisora is getting a second fight against Whyte, but he’s still basically a high level journeyman with eight career defeats, When you have that many losses, you’re a journeyman.

Hearn says Takam will definitely be on the Whyte-Chisora II card, whether it be against Hunter or not. Takam WILL be fighting on the card. The question is will Hearn open up his piggy bank to come up with enough money for Hunter to whet his beak or will he offer him pennies to take the fight? You can’t expect Hunter to take a big career risk by fighting a well known former world title challenger like Takam on 3 weeks’ notice if he’s not going to be paid well. Hearn talks about wanting to help fighters like Dave Allen do well financially. Would he do the same thing for an arguably much more talented fighter like Hunter? Speaking of Allen; it would be interesting if Hearn offered a fight between him and Hunter. Would Hearn let Hunter fight Allen or is that too tough of a a fight for Dave? Hunter would likely jump at the chance of fighting a flawed fighter like Allen on December 22 if Hearn offered that fight to him for good money.