Carlos Takam called for a clash with WBC champion Tyson Fury after a unanimous points win against Jerry Forrest in the latest Top Rank bill inside ‘The Bubble’ in Las Vegas on Thursday.
The 39-year-old Heavyweight, came in at late notice for the disgraced Jarrell Miller, who failed yet another drug test less than two weeks away from fight night.
The French-Cameroonian, who saw a July 14 bout with Oscar Rivas cancelled started brightly, snaking his jab as well as landing with quick lefts and rights as he swiftly found his range in the opening round.
Forrest (26-4, 20 KOs) was struggling to make adjustments in the early stages, constantly looking for a counter left hook that wasn’t forthcoming.
Takam (39-5-1, 28 KOs) was uncharacteristically relying on his boxing skills rather than plodding forward as we are used to seeing, and this was frustrating Forrest, who couldn’t seem to get going.
The former World title challenger, who was defeated by Anthony Joshua on late notice in 2017 remained mainly on the outside, gaining success with his movement, but he was cut under his eye from an accidental clash of heads that seemed to bother him.
The action was becoming scrappy from both men after halfway mark, but Takam looked in control, although his damaged eye continued to frustrate him.
Forrest’s corner implored him to go for the knockout ahead of the final round, and to his credit, he did let his hands go in last session, landing with decent left hands, but Takam was being allowed to win the round with experienced tactics, as the fight reached a conclusion.
Scores of 98-92, 97-93 and 96-94 were delivered by the three judges, as Takam was declared a comfortable winner and continued on a four fight winning spell since his KO defeat to Dereck Chisora in 2018.
“My preparation wasn’t easy,” Takam said post-fight.
“I was supposed to fight June 14 veruss Rivas but Mr Rivas could not fight because he had an injury.
“My promoter (Joe DeGuardia, Star Boxing) called me and said he had a fight for me.
“I checked out Jerry Forrest and said, ‘OK, let’s go.’ He asked if I was sure. I told him I’m ready to fight anybody.”
“But I’m ready to fight anybody. I want [Oscar] Rivas next, and then after that I want Tyson Fury.”
The other scheduled ten round contest on the card saw Carlos Castro (26-0, 11 KOs) continue his unbeaten streak with an impressive early win against former World title challenger Cesar Suarez (25-9, 19 KOs) in an all-Mexican Super Bantamweight affair.
Suarez looked troubled as soon as Castro went to the body in the first session, and the 28-year-old was simply being outclassed by his undefeated opponent.
Round four saw Castro move up the gears, and as he mixed up his attacks.
He was landing hard to both head and body to demoralise Castro, who looked hurt after every meaningful punch.
Suarez’s corner had simply seen enough at the end of the session, and made the correct call to remove their man from the line of fire.
Joshafat Ortiz (8-0, 4 KOs) won the battle of the unbeatens, scoring a majority decision win against Joshua Orta (6-1, 2 KOs) in a six round contest at Super Featherweight.
Ortiz’s better early start seemed to win the day in this one. Two scores of 58-56 trumped a third at a 57-57 draw as Ortiz remained unbeaten.
At Middleweight in the show opener, Donte Stubbs (7-1, 2 KOs) who was only last seen some nine days ago losing his unbeaten record, dropped Fred Wilson Jr (6-1-2, 2 KOs) twice, taking his unbeaten record with a dominant six round points win.
A big counter right hand at the end of the third round dropped Wilson, and he was also decked by a sweeping right hand in the fifth as he suffered defeat for the first time as a professional.
One score of 58-54 and two at 58-53 saw Stubbs return to winning ways.
Ever seen a DOUBLE knockdown?
Well if not, now you have. 😮 #TakamForrest | LIVE on ESPN pic.twitter.com/oHejrBETpX
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) July 10, 2020
In a bizarre Welterweight battle, Corey Champion (2-3, 2 KOs) stopped Peter Cortez (2-2, 1 KO) in the opening round, despite a rare double-knockdown, with both fighters hitting the canvas after connecting with right hands to the temple.
