The fight was dominated by an eye injury Takam sustained in the fourth round – as well as a broken nose for Joshua – and the Frenchman did well to last as long as he did.
But eventually, the relentless power-punching of Joshua was too much and the referee waved off the fight to the disappointment of 78,000 fans looking for the fight to end with Takam on the floor.
Joshua had spoken in the build-up about remaining humble and hungry and how he could not let the belts speak for him, and remained respectful of Takam’s power throughout.
He was more than aware of the potential for Takam to represent a banana skin as a powerful, fast puncher and a late replacement for Kubrat Pulev.
Despite just 12 days of notice, the Frenchman looked well-conditioned and sharp, happy to come forward and test Joshua’s elusiveness.
But in the second round, the crowd had their first excuse to rise as one under the closed roof as Joshua stung Takam with a series of hooks that knocked him off balance.
However, he kept his feet and Joshua resisted the temptation to forge forward, instead choosing to play the long game.
But when Joshua caught the Frenchman with a flurry of punches in the fourth round, the damage to his right eye left Takam counting to 10 with the referee and seriously hampered for the rest of the fight.
The referee took a careful look at the beginning of the fifth and asked the doctor to inspect it during the same round but allowed him to continue.
Joshua was impetuous but not reckless while Takam, sensing his chances of going 12 rounds had faded even further, started to throw caution to the wind.
But while the sword of Damocles looked like it was about to fall at the end of the fourth, Takam worked his way back into the fight, exploding out of the trenches and firing slick combinations at Joshua from close range.
In the seventh round he even appeared to stun Joshua, who briefly dropped his hands and lost some of his usually unflappable demeanour.
The Brit was left sluggish and blowing, just as he had at a similar stage of the Wladimir Klitschko bout.
But just as he had then, he rallied and found second wind, fighting behind a lengthy and stiff jab. Joshua boxed clever, taking the ninth round to recover energy and prepare himself for an onslaught that might see him effect a late knockout.
And sure enough, another flurry of powerful hooks left Takam rocking on his feet before the bout was waved off and the referee decided the Frenchman had to be saved from himself.
And Joshua compared his opponent to one of boxing’s greats after his fearless display.
“He’s like [Evander] Holyfield, coming under and popping up but this is championship fighting and imagine it broke,” Joshua said in the ring.
“I couldn’t breathe and he started catching up in the later rounds.
“It would have been a massive disaster so I had to keep my cool.
“I’ve got a few months to heal it up. I’ll go and see some good doctors to crack it back into place and then we continue with training.
“You have to control these situations because if I showed any signs of weakness the ref could have jumped in and done whatever.”
And talk quickly turned to who lies next for Joshua after a 20th win with Eddie Hearn suggesting he could three times in 2018.
“Deontay Wilder against AJ has to happen,” he said.
“There’s also a great heavyweight called Tyson Fury who has to come back to the sport.
“Anthony Joshua wants to be in the real fights, I promise you, I promise the fans Anthony Joshua will give you the fights that you want, I promise you that.
“Deontay Wilder,Joseph Parker, Tyson Fury are the 2018 fights.”