By Ian S Palmer
Heavyweight contenders Dereck Chisora of Zimbabwe and Carlos Takam of Cameroon will be meeting this Saturday, July 28th at the O2 Arena in London, England. The bout can be seen live in the UK on Sky Sports Box Office. Takam last fought in October when he was stopped in 10 rounds by Anthony Joshua in an attempt to wrest the WBA, IBF and IBO belts from him. Chisora last saw action in March when he stopped Zakaria Azzouzi in the second round.
The 37-year-old Takam, who fights out of France, has an impressive record of 35-4-1 along with 27 Kos. He turned pro in 2005 and has fought 194 rounds since then. He’s also lost to Alexander Povetkin by 10th-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 against Mike Perez in 2014. Takam more than held his own against Joshua last year and showed a lot of heart while doing so.
Takam has beaten the likes of Marcelo Luiz Nascimento, Franz Botha, Michael Sprott, Tony Thompson and Michael Grant. He stands just over 6-feet-1-inch tall with an 80.5-inch reach so isn’t a big heavyweight by today’s standards. He has pretty good power though with a current knockout ratio of 68 per cent. Takam keeps busy each round and throws a lot of punches so he should be trying to outwork and pressure Chisora on Saturday to keep him on the back foot.
The 34-year-old year-old Chisora, who fights out of England, climbs up the ring steps with a mark of 28-8 along with 20 Kos to his name. He’s been beaten twice on points by Tyson Fury. His other losses came to Agit Kabayel by majority decision last year, a split decision to Dillian Whyte in 2016, a fifth-round TKO to David Haye in 2012, a unanimous decision to Vitali Klitschko just five months earlier and a split decision to Robert Helenius three months before that, meaning he went through a streak of three straight defeats. He was also beaten by Kubrat Pulev via split decision in 2016.
Chisora’s also just over 6-foot-1, but his 74-inch wingspan means he gives up six inches in reach. He’s a bit more skilled than people give him credit for as he can throw decent combinations when he’s in a rhythm, but often leaves himself exposed to counter shots. Chisora’s defeated the likes of Malik Scott and Kevin Johnson, but struggles when stepping up in class. He’s fought 221 rounds since turning pro in 2007 and owns a 56 per cent knockout ratio. Chisora doesn’t mind turning his fights into brawls, but also needs to utilize some basic boxing skills, such as his jab, if he’s going to be successful here.
Prediction…
Both boxers have plenty of experience and even though they’ve been stopped before they have pretty good chins. This could be an entertaining bout if they both let their hands go. However, at this stage of their careers Takam appears to be the better boxer and has taken on tougher opponents recently. Takam should be able to do enough to pull out a victory here.
