By Ian S Palmer
Veteran heavyweight contender Carlos Takam of Cameroon will be meeting southpaw Jerry Forrest of Lafayette, Louisiana in a 10-round tilt in Las Vegas this Thursday, July 9th. The contest can be seen on ESPN and ESPN Deportes in America while those in Canada can check it out on TSN. Takam last saw action in February when he Fabio Maldonado by a 10-round unanimous decision. Forrest stopped Martez Williamson in the second round in September in his last outing.
The 39-year-old Takam fought out of France for awhile and now resides in the USA. He made a name for himself in October of 2017 when he was stopped in 10 rounds by Anthony Joshua in an attempt to wrest the WBA, IBF and IBO belts from him. He was then stopped by Dereck Chisora in the eighth round in his next outing nine months later for the vacant WBA International Heavyweight Title. He’s fought 229 rounds since his pro debut in 2005 and has built up a record of 38-5-1 with 28 Kos.
Takam stands just over 6-feet-1-inch tall with an 80.5-inch reach. He has pretty good power with a current knockout ratio of 63.6 per cent. He was also beaten by Alexander Povetkin by10th-round Ko in 2014, dropped an eight-round unanimous decision to Gregory Tony in 2009 and lost a close 12-round unanimous decision to Joseph Parker in May of 2016. His draw was a 10-round majority decision with Mike Perez in 2014.
Takam has also beaten the likes of Senad Gashi, Marcelo Luiz Nascimento, Franz Botha, Michael Sprott, Tony Thompson and Michael Grant. He stopped Marcin Rekowski in the fourth round in 2017 for the vacant IBF Inter-Continental Heavyweight Belt and his unanimous decision over Thompson was for the vacant WBC Silver Heavyweight Title. He stopped Grant in eight rounds for the WBF Heavyweight Strap in 2013, halted Botha in 11 rounds in 2012 for the vacant WBF International Title and is a former WBO African Heavyweight champ.
Forrest is 32 years old and he enters the fight with a record of 26-3 with 20 Kos. He made his pro debut back in 2012 and has just 83 rounds of experience under his belt. The main reason for his low round total are because he’s been 10 rounds just once and plenty of his knockouts have been early in fights. And speaking of stoppages, he’s also got good power with a current knockout ratio of 69 per cent. Forrest stands 6-feet-1-inch tall with a 78-inch reach so gives up 2.5-inches in height to Takam.
The losses on Forrest’s pro record have been at the hands of Gerald Washington in 2013 and then he dropped an eight-round unanimous decision to Michael Hunter 10 months later in his next outing. His last defeat was a 10-round split decision to Jermaine Franklin last July. As you can see, when stepping up in class, Forrest hasn’t fared to well as of yet.
Forrest’s wins have been over the likes of Riley Brooks, Marlon Hayes, Willis Lockett (twice), Grover Young (three times), Miree Coleman (twice), Edgar Perez and Lamont Capers. Just 11 of his 29 foes have entered the ring with winning records and only two of the last seven.
Prediction…
Takam is a solid pro who has the big edge in experience and a slight reach advantage. Forrest arguably has more power and a better chin and is seven years younger. However, he hasn’t beaten anybody of note with most of his wins coming against journeymen. This could be an entertaining bout if they both let their hands go and Forrest has a chance if he happens to land a solid shot on the button. Takam is the better boxer though and as long as his chin doesn’t give out he should be able to handle Forrest. He just needs to keep busy each round while trying to outwork and pressure Forrest and keep him on the back foot.
