By: Hector Franco
This weekend at the Wembley Arena in London, rising heavyweight contender Joe “Juggernaut” Joyce (12-0, 11 KOs) will take on perennial journeyman Carlos Takam (39-5-1, 28 KOs) in a scheduled 12-round bout.
Joyce, 35, is one of the many “super” heavyweights that have been a large part of this era, standing at 6’6 and at times weighing over 250 pounds for his fights. The man known as the Juggernaut, is best known for his amateur accomplishments, including a silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Brazil, gold medals at the 2015 European games, and the 2014 Common Wealth games.
The London, England native participated in three seasons of the World Series of Boxing, garnering a 14-2 record with seven knockouts. The only significant loss came against current heavyweight contender and former undisputed cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.
As a professional, Joyce has steadily raised his level of competition, having defeated former WBC heavyweight titleholder Bermane Stivene by sixth-round stoppage in February 2019. In the summer of 2019, Joyce defeated former heavyweight contender Bryant Jennings by unanimous decision.
In his previous bout, Joyce faced fellow United Kingdom contender Daniel Dubois. After ten rounds of action and with Joyce down on two of the three judges’ scorecards, the silver medalist knocked out Dubois with a left jab. Dubois took a knee and could not continue.
It was later found out that Dubois suffered a fractured left eye socket.
While Joyce’s opponent will be five years older than him at 40-years of age, Takam holds the edge in experience over the United Kingdom star. Out of the five losses in Takam’s career, four of the five have come against elite competition, such as Anthony Joshua, Alexander Povetkin, Joseph Parker, and Derek Chisora.
Since Takam’s latest defeat at the hands of Chisora in 2018, the Frenchman out of Cameroon has won four straight fights and fought twice in 2020.
A victory over Takam for Joyce will keep him on the steady track towards a world title opportunity. Fans and pundits want to see if Joyce is closer to a Lennox Lewis or Tyson Fury rather than an Audley Harrison or David Price.
At the very least, fans can expect a solid heavyweight battle in London on Saturday night.
“I am in a good place; he’s in a good place,” Joyce said during a press conference. “We are going to have a car crash Saturday night. And I am going to win.”
