CARLOS TAKAM HAS fired a forthright warning to Joe Joyce ahead of their heavyweight showdown on Saturday night, warning the British Olympian that he intends to put a first dent in his perfect professional record at the SSE Arena, Wembley.

Takam, an LA-based, French-Cameroonian, is a two-time world title challenger with nearly four times as many fights as Joyce under his professional belt.

He has got the impression that he has been drafted in as a fall guy for Britain’s next big heavyweight hope, with the winner of this fight at the head of the queue to face the winner of Anthony Joshua-Oleksandr Usyk for the WBO world title.

Far from being fodder for the Juggernaut, Takam insists he is in it to win it and plans on inflicting a Wembley upset.

“Hey boy! What’s up Joyce?,” said Takam in a direct message to the Putney man. “I hope you are ready for this fight because I’ve come here to win. On Saturday you won’t beat me, I’m sorry. This is my time. This is Carlos Takam time and I’m going to beat your guy!

“I will see you on Saturday night Joe and I am here to win, not to lose. See you boy, I am ready for the win, definitely.”

The fighting talk from the Frenchman was backed up by Joyce’s promoter Frank Warren, who knows he has imported a top-notch heavyweight to test his man at the highest level.

“He’s a seasoned performer who comes to fight and you know that his and Joe’s styles will make a fight,” said the Hall of Fame fight maker. “He will come at Joe and that will suit Joe, I think, and he will have to be at his best and he will have to do it better than the other guys did like Joshua and Chisora.

“That is how I look at it but, I repeat myself again, he has only had 12 fights and this is a big step up where a win will see him keep his mandatory position to fight the winner out of Joshua-Usyk taking place in September. I think the fight will be ordered pretty soon after that.

“Joe has been in with tough guys right from the start because of his age and he has done that, but you can still see there are things he needs to do and work on. I think that Takam will be another good name for his record and it will be another great experience for Joe.

“They are big guys who will be throwing bombs at each other and Joe has got a good chin. Takam does come to fight, he throws shots and I can tell you from talking to his team, they fancy the job.”

Joe Joyce v Carlos Takam for the WBC Silver and WBO International titles takes place at the SSE Arena, Wembley on Saturday (July 24).

Hamzah Sheeraz (12-0, 8 KOs) makes the third defence of his WBO European title against Spaniard Ezequiel Gurria (15-1, 3 KOs).

Swansea’s Chris Jenkins (22-3-3, 8 KOs) will finally defend his British and Commonwealth welterweight titles against Nottingham’s Ekow Essuman (14-0, 5 KOs) after recovering from injury.

In a well matched fourth title fight, Peacock gym ace Chris Bourke (9-0, 6 KOs) defends his WBC International super-bantamweight title against Bloxwich’s James Beech Jnr (12-1, 2 KOs).

There is also heavyweight action featuring David Adeleye (6-0, 5 KOs), while Mill Hill’s George Fox (3-0) will make his Queensberry debut. Reading super-featherweight hope Charles Frankham (2-0, 1 KO) has also been added to the stacked bill., along with ‘The Gent’ Micky Burke Jr (4-0, 1 KO) who also returns after his first stoppage victory in November last year.

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