Anthony Joshua exclusive: I got 10 rounds in, there was a lot of blood, but people aren’t satisfied… and I’m learning that

Big Fight Diary
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Anthony Joshua30 October 2017

There’s two outcomes - win and lose - and I got the win so I have to be happy with that.

I’m not there to make decisions and I still haven’t watched the fight back yet so I don’t know about the stoppage. If the referee didn’t stop it, was Carlos Takam going to win the fight? I’m not too sure. If it had gone further would I have knocked him out? Again, I don’t know.

His eyes were split open, he was dabbing away at the cuts all the time and kept looking at the referee as if to say “do something about this”. When the stoppage came, he may have been able to go on a bit longer but I think the outcome was going to be the same and I was going to win.

I was delivering in the fight, I hurt him, slashed his eyes with punches and my kit was covered in blood at the end - it was pure white before the fight but pink at the end of it.

He was a tough man and he had a strong head. He has a short build so he is used to dealing with tall guys and he knows how to keep moving and stay out of trouble, so I just took my time.

The headbutt was just one of those things that can happen in a fight - he got cut on his eyes and his corner did a great job to keep him in the fight.

I got butted in the second round and it bust my nose but my corner did a good job, too, of looking after me and getting me through the 10 rounds. The doctor felt it after the fight and said that it was just badly bruised, not broken so that’s good.

You don’t see a headbutt coming and it’s harder than a punch - a crunching feeling.

I just needed to get through that round okay because the referee doesn’t give you time to get yourself together and have a breather when there’s an accidental headbutt.

It’s another thing for me to experience and I got through it and managed it as it was gushing with blood at first.

As a fighter, you have the natural instinct to hurt your opponent as that’s the name of the game.

I saw that Takam was hurt a few times in the fight but I didn’t want to go steaming in looking for the knockout, I wanted it to come naturally and was slowly looking for the knockout.

Photo: Getty Images
Getty Images

It was a completely different fight to the one against Wladimir Klitschko and that’s a night that I cannot just live off. I am not going to rest in my armchair forever reminiscing about that night.

Guys like Takam have completely different styles, so you put the past to one side to deal with the present as it could be a curse - Takam, like Klitschko, is done now so I must move on. There’s a lot of interest in my next move and, the more interest, the more pressure.

I’m just rolling with the punches, there’s no stress with me.

In Pictures | Anthony Joshua's professional fights

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The fights that people want to see are going to happen. But like the million fighters before, certain things have to happen before their big fights could happen. I’ve got mandatory obligations with the belts, that’s just how it goes.

I am not looking at 2018 yet - I take it day by day and we’re not out of 2017 yet. I’ll rest and then get back in the gym and look to work and improve. The possibilities are exciting but you never know the landscape of boxing and what might happen.

Heavyweight boxing is crazy, look at Takam’s face afterwards - you have to be mad, it’s gladiatorial and you have to be very tough, and that’s what drives people to come to watch.

You can never get used to crowds as big as that and having the pressure of people’s expectations, it’s a lot to deal with. I got 10 good rounds in, there was a lot of blood, but still some people aren’t satisfied, and I am learning that.

You have to tick every box and the more interest there is the more boxes there are to tick - but it’s good that there’s so much interest. There’s still a lot more to come.

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