Eddie Hearn has arranged a surprising name to be one of Anthony Joshua's sparring partners for his upcoming title defence on March 31.

Hearn has enlisted the services of Joshua's most recent opponent Carlos Takam to help Joshua prepare for his fight against Joseph Parker.

In a video released by talkSPORT, Hearn, who is Joshua's promoter, is seen speaking on the phone with Takam's management about getting the Cameroonian-Frenchman on board as one of the heavyweight's sparring partners.

Hearn later explains the delicate situation in which one asks a fighter to be a sparring partner, a request that can either be seen as an insult or a compliment.

"Takam's obviously been in that fight, wants to rematch Joshua really. The reality is that's not gonna happen sometime soon.

"But sometimes when you get asked to come as a sparring partner, it's just that understanding of is it disrespectful or is it a compliment? And what their argument was 'we want to be a world title contender, we don't want to be a sparring partner' and I'm saying 'yea but its a compliment that AJ has six or eight sparring partners and said 'I want Takam because I believe that's a great spar, he can give me great work'."

In the video, he can be seen telling Takam's management on the phone that "the reason [Joshua] wants to bring him into camp is because he believes [Takam] is a world-class fighter."

Being AJ's latest victim, Takam's participation as a willing sparring partner may seem surprising to a few boxing fans. However, as Hearn pointed out to Takam's management, there are advantages for Takam to take on this role.

"[Takam] has to make some noise again, he's gone missing since the fight.

Hearn was later asked if setting up sparring partners is usually part of a promoter's job.

He hastily replied: "No," followed by a cheeky smile before adding: "I'm a bit of a boxing fanatic, so I work real close with Rob McCracken [Joshua's coach]... and we're a team... it's my job to work with Rob and put forward suggestions."

Hearn continued: "It is unusual, but there's so much at stake and it's such a high level, you know I don't organise sparring for our southern area champions but this is so important for the preparation."

The British brawler and world champion has a chance of unifying three belts should he come out victorious against Joseph Parker on March 31 at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.