In 2004 he represented his native country, Cameroon, at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece but was beaten in the round of sixteen by Egypt's Mohamed Aly.

[1] Takam made his professional debut in France on 10 December 2005, when he defeated Zine Eddine Benmakhlouf of Belgium.

His first loss as a professional came in June 2009, when he lost to undefeated French prospect Grégory Tony by unanimous decision over eight rounds.

On 6 June 2014 Takam took on Tony Thompson, (39-5-0, 26KOs) at the Palais des Sport Marcel Cerdan in Paris, France.

Takam won the fight by unanimous decision with scores of 117–111, 117–111, and 119–109 to win the vacant WBC Silver heavyweight title.

In October 2014 Takam faced Russian Alexander Povetkin (27-1-0, 19KOs) at the Luzhiniki Palace of Sports in Moscow, Russia.

Takam fought three times in 2015, defeating Marcelo Luiz Nascimento and Michael Sprott by knockout and George Arias by unanimous decision in an eight round bout.

[2] The fight took place with Parker winning a unanimous decision after twelve rounds, in front of a vocal home crowd at South Auckland's Vodafone Events Centre in New Zealand.

[3] Despite the result the fight was very close until the end with Takam landing painful and dangerous combinations of shots.

[5] On 15 June 2018, it was confirmed that Takam would face Derek Chisora on 28 July at The O2 Arena, London, England, on the undercard of Dillian Whyte vs. Joseph Parker.

[8] His next fight on 28 February 2020 also took place in the state of New York, this time in Huntington against Fábio Maldonado, which he won by shutout unanimous decision.

[10] On 16 June 2021, it was announced that Takam's next fight would be against undefeated Joe Joyce on 24 July at the SSE Arena, London.

[11] After a slow start from Joyce on the night, in which Takam landed numerous punches to the head and body of Joyce in the opening rounds, Takam was staggered by his opponent at the start of the sixth round, overwhelmed with a barrage of punches which forced referee Steve Gray to halt the fight.