Carlos Takam proved to be far from a formality for IBO, IBF and WBA heavyweight world champion, Anthony Joshua.A broken nose, a split eye and a relentless challenger made the world title fight at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff much more of a spectacle than most people had anticipated.In fact, just about every pundit claimed that Joshua would have Takam finished inside the first four rounds, but the Cameroon-born Frenchman didn't read the script.To be fair, Takam has only been stopped once prior to his affair with Joshua and when he fought previous knockout specialist Joseph Parker, he became one of only six men to take him the distance.Either way, Joshua got a war that precious few people expected and as we learned from his showdown with Wladimir Klitschko, the Watford-born fighter, is not one to turn down a good scrap.AJ showed his class to come out on top of the clash as the referee finally intervened when Takam had two cuts under both eyes and he was suffering a barrage of punches Joshua.Still, after going that far with the formidable Joshua, the 78,000 fans inside the Principality Stadium wanted to see Takam go the distance - or get properly knocked out - and they booed the referee's decision.One thing that the public loves about Joshua is the classy individual that he has proven himself to be, and his regarding Takam following the fight said a lot about the man:

A nice touch from AJ, but we doubt Takam will take solace in anything else but a rematch!

On that note, that's something he's unlikely to get after Joshua made it clear that unifying the titles is top of his to-do-list.

Joshua enters 2018 as a unified heavyweight champion who is selling out every stadium he books. He is now in a position where he must take the big fights that are available.