With the big (ish) three-match between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder now off the summer schedule and looking as though it’s headed to October (and with it, hopefully, the solid under-card of heavyweight fights that were set for July 24, with Robert Helenius – Adam Kownacki II and Efe Ajagba – Frank Sanchez being two cracking fights that we all hope we will still get to see), there is really only one big (ish) heavyweight fight set for the month of July.
The Joe Joyce-Carlos Takam fight, set for The SSE Arena on the date of July 24 (what an explosive heavyweight night it really could have been had Fury-Wilder III and its stellar under-card gone ahead as planned) is the only shot we have of getting some big man fireworks this month. No, Joyce Vs. Takam is not in any way a mega fight, and most fans see it as a definite win for “Juggernaut” Joyce. But the action does promise to be lively, with Takam having shown us all many times over that he is not a guy who comes to lay down.
It might take a number of rounds for Joyce to chop his man down two weeks from tomorrow, and as long as he’s there Takam can be dangerous. At the very least, Takam, 39-5-1(28) can be expected to make Joyce work hard in there. This is no gimmie for Joyce, even if he is a prohibitive favorite. At age 40, Takam – who has been in with everyone from AJ to Alexander Povetkin, from Dereck Chisora to Joseph Parker – may have seen better days, but Joyce is no spring chicken himself at age 35.
Joyce has not boxed since he took Daniel Dubois’ scalp back in November, while Takam last fought a year ago, when he defeated Jerry Forrest. How much has Takam got left? How much can Joyce go on to achieve? We could get an answer to both questions on the evening of July 24. Assuming, that is, that there are no last-minute hitches with this fight. Please, let this one go ahead as planned!
Joyce easy