Carlos Takam

Earlier today, lost in the shuffle of a big day of action (Haskins vs. Iwasa and Helenius vs. Lobjanidze in the afternoon, then big cards on HBO & Showtime with televised preliminaries starting almost immediately upon the conclusion of the European cards) the big musclebound Cameroonian knocked out Michael Sprott in 5 in Paris.

Sprott is a decent name to have on the ledger, and was a step up from Takam's last comeback trail victim Marcelo Luiz Nascimento. Even so, this was still only Takam's fifth best conquest behind Thompson, old Grant, old Botha, and Oluokun. Even the KO1 over Roman Kracik (stopped just four other times in nearly fifty bouts) is a little better than issuing 40 year old Sprott his 14th stoppage loss.

In fact, merely having gotten the knockout was insufficient, considering that Sprott hadn't seen the 4th round (let alone 5th) in his last 9 fights. He was coming off KO1s last year to Meehan and Joshua.

At least Takam has been keeping active since his competitive KO10 loss to Povetkin last October. That and his draw with Mike Perez last January remain his only blemishes in the last six years, since he was outpointed, embarrassingly, by Gregory Tony - a failed crossover from kickboxing (where he was a top contender, but something of a tomato can in regular boxing).

The former Olympian is considered by many to be just outside the division's top 5 in h2h terms, but his résumé still lacks the ornamental pizzazz to justify actually placing him any higher than in the eleven through fifteen range. Thompson remains his greatest scalp, and while Thompson has, despite his age, legitimized himself as still a viable contender in the last couple of years defeating Odlanier Solis x2 and exposing David Price x2, that alone isn't enough to vault Takam into the mix as unavoidable for the very topmost names.

He needs to start putting together a string of meaningful W's. Nascimento and then Sprott were fine to rebuild his confidence after Povetkin knocked him out, but he needs to step it up.

There's no reason he can't. In this current heavyweight climate, having a fair amount of dig, a sturdy chin, and solid fundamentals is all you need to be right up there.

...and solid fundamentals he does have. Many don't realize, but Takam was a very good amateur. He was among the best super heavies on the African continent in his day, winning bronze & gold in various tourneys. He also represented Cameroon at the Olympics in Athens. He was eliminated in the RO16 by Mohamed Aly - but there is actually no shame in that, as the Egyptian went undefeated in Athens, progressing all the way into the finals (slated to meet none other than Alexander Povetkin) but had to forfeit with injury, making Povetkin the gold medalist by default via walkover. In those same games, Aly defeated Michel López Núñez in the semifinals (López Núñez was a stellar Cuban who once beat countryman Odlanier Solis, and in the quarterfinals had eliminated Jason Estrada, a very good amateur for the U.S. with over 300 bouts when he turned pro, wiping Estrada out comprehensively to avenge having lost to him the year before in a previous tourney), and Jakšto of Lithuania in the quarterfinals (Jakšto had eliminated Victor Bisbal in the RO16, and boasted wins over Michel López Núñez and Robert Helenius)

He isn't going to sharpen those skills by easily bowling over brittle opponents. Nascimento at least has a fairly high KO rate (15 of his 17 wins) so that makes sense as far as Takam getting over being haunted by the Povetkin experience, building his confidence up by getting in with a puncher and destroying them - but Sprott? The man hasn't recorded a stoppage in 5 years - and that was over Werner freaking Kreiskott. His last meaningful stoppage was over Audley Harrison in 2007. I just don't see the benefit of this kind of matchmaking for Takam at this juncture. He is 34 years old. He needs to be jumping back into the deep end ASAP to make use of his talents before they fade - and strike while the iron remains hot before young blood reinvigorates the heavyweight division.

 

I could swear there was talk of Jennings vs. Takam at one point? :huh

 

That's probably what it was, having a common opponent lead to lots of speculative talk.

 

Farmy might not be wrong about his first statement, though.

Molina did buzz Wilder, and Takam is better than Molina..

 

:good