This content is protected Takam first because it was he who had the WBC Silver title obtained against Thompson. Perhaps the best performance of a Frenchman's decade was the first five rounds of this fight. It's simple for me, he has them all. His jab and his defensive play, especially on the shoulder, gave Povetkin a lot of trouble. Must see the number to see that he met the famous hooks of Russian in the wind and his blows to the body, it was really magnificent. And even when Povetkin passes the 5th from round 6 it is far from being ridiculous. Really a grand performance until the end of the 9th when his loose body and Povetkin not miss the opportunity to win the fight. The down and the knockout are also excellent elsewhere. It is this fight that should have been for the vacant WBC title and certainly not Stiverne vs Arreola II.
Great fight, agreed. Takam came in extremely sharp and it took a big effort by Povetkin to gain the upper hand.
In a perfect world Wlad would have fought for the vacant belt, but yes this match would have been more deserving. One of the better HW matches of its era. Action, level of skill displayed from both fighters and a great finish.
If Povetkin wasn’t roided Takam could have won, but the Povetkin after the Klitschko fight and before the Rudenko fight was a bull, he was scary.
Great fight where both fighters gave it their all. Takam really is an underrated and somewhat unlucky guy. He always gives fighters a hard time then drops the ball at some point (was clearly beating Chisora till he ran into that OH right) or ends up getting jobbed by the ref/judges (should have beaten Perez and been allowed to continue vs Joshua). He reminds me a bit of Steve Cunningham in some regards. Casual fans who just look at results as the be all and end all of a fighter's worth might dismiss them, but anyone who rates performances, even losing ones, knows both men are as game and cagey as they come.
I've actually been in many arguments on here about that, a few regarding this one in particular. They would ignore all points made and just respond back with "who does he have on his resume though" like a broken record.
