Earlier this week Kubrat Pulev caused a bit of a stir when word got out that would be pulling out from the fight against Anthony Joshua. For a short period of time, there wasn’t any official confirmation of who would be taking Pulev’s place for the mega event on October 28th in Cardiff.
But very soon after the Pulev news, Matchroom announced that number third-ranked IBF challenger Carlos Takam would take over the Bulgarian’s spot.
According to former World heavyweight champion David Haye, it’s the name of the game.
“That’s part of boxing. Boxing is an impact sport. A combat sport. When we have sparring all it takes is one punch a little too far and someone jolts their shoulder or someone gets a cut. It happens. It’s part and parcel. It’s a shame that Pulev pulled out, but we got a good contender in Carlos Takam. Seasoned world level fighter. Although the big fight’s not off, we have a decent fighter in Carlos Takam making up the numbers,” said Haye to Boxing Social.
Haye believes that at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who Anthony Joshua fights because of his superstar boxer status.
“The Pulev fight was a good fight. It was a fight that didn’t really capture the imagination of the public. Not many people knew Pulev other than getting knocked out by Klitschko but it was Anthony Joshua, homecoming. It was a big fight, they sold 80 000 tickets I believe. Joshua could fight anybody and it would sell 80 000 tickets. It’s not about who he fights, it’s the Anthony Joshua Show. Whoever is in the other corner, I don’t think it will make that much difference. Whether it’s Pulev, Takam, or John Smith – it doesn’t matter,” told Haye.
Joshua’s last minute replacement has left some boxing fans with a bitter taste in their mouth. Could there be a possibility that this serves Bellew-Haye 2 and making it a bigger fight than Joshua-Takam?
“I don’t think it will make much of difference with my fight. People are not going to think whether to pick Joshua fight or me and Bellew fight. People who want to see me and Bellew are gonna watch that. Joshua has a big fanbase and they are gonna come watch him no matter what. You’ve got two good fights, two entertaining fights and people are going to watch both of them,” commented ‘The Hayemaker
Before his fight against Tony Bellew, Haye will put his promoter hat on this coming Friday.
Hayemaker Ringstar Fight Night will be live on Dave from 9pmFriday. Hayemaker Ringstar Fight Night is taking place at Indigo, 02 on Friday. Tickets are still available and can be purchased from www.02.co.uk