Boxing Challenge:Takam slides past the "Slug"

Boxing doesn't always have a situation where the more established fighter is the late replacement against a mid-level fighter, but that is what happened in the main event for Top Rank/ESPN inside the Las Vegas "bubble" when Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller tested positive for PED's for what seems to be the tenth time (actually the third) and was removed from the match.

Former world title challenger Carlos Takam stepped in for Miller to face Jerry "Slug" Forrest, a journeyman that had lost to the best three fighters that he had faced and lacked a remotely decent victory, but almost upset undefeated Jermaine Franklin in 2019.
Takam didn't enter this fight on a roll either as he is 39 years of age, lacks a win over a top thirty heavyweight since his 2014 decision win over Tony Thompson, and between the short notice and demands of the "bubble", Takam didn't seem to have all the checkmarks on his side of the fight either.
Takam added afterwards, that his father had passed a week before the fight and considering all that was against him, it was a nice win for the veteran as he won a unanimous decision with the judges scoring 96-94 (my card as well), 97-93, and 98-92.

Takam started quickly and won the first four rounds on my card, but began to slow in the middle rounds after a accidental headbutt cut him along his right cheekbone.
The commentators (either Andre Ward or Tim Bradley, they both comment similarly so often that I can't remember which) speculated that Takam could have fractured the cheekbone and adding that straw to the pile of issues facing Takam, Takam began to slow his attack as Forrest began to rally and tighten the fight as he added rounds to his side of the card.
On my card entering the tenth round, Forrest could have pulled out a draw on my scorecard but Takam had enough left to win the final round to clinch the victory.
Carlos Takam keeps himself viable as a fringe contender and with Top Rank being invested in the heavyweights with Tyson Fury, it's not out of the question for Takam to receive a bigger fight with his status as a gatekeeper in the division.
If you beat Takam, as four former or current champions have, you are a solid top ten or higher heavyweight and the fighters that cannot get past Takam aren't even fringe contender types- there hasn't been any middle ground to date.
Takam is a rugged fighter, but somewhat limited in power and boxing skills, but his mauling style will be physical enough to get by a mid-level fighter like Forrest more often than not.
As for Forrest, he had many things in his favor with the problems nagging at Takam and he still didn't throw enough punches for the first half of the fight to win a fight that was sitting there for him to grab for the best win of his career.

In the boxing challenge, I earned two points for the Takam decision win to Ramon Malpica's one to boost my lead in the boxing challenge to eight points at 68-60.

I hope to be able to work on the promised post tonight or tomorrow that I promised, but was delayed due to the Devils hiring of Lindy Ruff.