Joe Joyce vs. Carlos Takam: Fight prediction, undercard, odds, start time, how to watch, preview

Joe Joyce is looking to build on the momentum of his career-best win on Saturday when he clashes with Carlos Takam at SSE Arena in London. The card is set to go down at 2:15 p.m. ET on Fite pay-per-view.

Joyce (12-0, 11 KO) was a heavy underdog coming into his most recent fight, a clash with heavily-hyped Daniel Dubois this past November. Instead of playing opponent, Joyce used a stiff jab to bust up Dubois before Dubois chose to take a knee and the 10 count in Round 10. Joyce’s experience was on display throughout the fight, surviving some heavy punches from Dubois and sticking to his gameplan.

Despite only 12 professional bouts on his resume, Joyce has an accomplished amateur career, peaking with a silver medal in the 2016 Olympic games, losing a split decision in the gold medal bout. His experience as an amateur gives Joyce a strong base of fundamentals and a jab that can do legitimate damage rather than just scoring points.

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Joyce was originally tied to a bout with Oleksandr Usyk but when the dominoes began to fall in the heavyweight title picture beginning with Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua falling apart, Usyk moved on to enforce his status as mandatory challenger for Joshua, leaving Joyce in need of an opponent.

Takam (39-5-1, 28 KO) is a skilled opponent with several high-profile bouts on his resume. At age 40, he has a lot of miles on his body but is riding a four-fight winning streak, most recently picking up a win over Jerry Forrest in a bout in which Takam stepped in on short notice.

There’s not much depth to this card beyond the main event, but the co-main will see a pair of welterweights clash when Chris Jenkins takes on Ekow Essuman. Jenkins holds an impressive 22-3-3 mark with eight knockouts to his name. He’s not been beaten in the ring in his last five appearances with his last defeat coming in May 2018. Essuman is an unbeaten prospect at 14-0 with five KOs, but has faced next to no resistance to this point.

Joyce vs. Takam card, odds

Prediction

Takam is a capable fighter and has plenty of experience in big fights, having battled Dereck Chisora, Anthony Joshua, Alexander Povetkin and others. That said, he’s also 40 years old and has the wear and tear of 45 professional bouts on his resume. Joyce isn’t a young man at 35, but is much fresher in terms of overall miles on the body. Joyce is also a highly-skilled boxer and has the ability to work distance and jab his way to a decision or use the jab to open up power punches that can break an opponent down as the fight wears on. Pick: Joe Joyce via TKO8