Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam


Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam is a French Cameroonian professional boxer. He has held a middleweight world championship twice, including the WBO title in 2012 and the WBA title in 2017, and has challenged once for a super-middleweight world title in 2019. As of August 2019, N'Dam N'Jikam is ranked as the world's ninth best active middleweight by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.

Amateur career

N'dam N'Jikam won a silver medal in the middleweight division at the 2003 All-Africa Games, losing to Ramadan Yasser of Egypt in the final. N'jikam represented Cameroon in the middleweight bracket at the 2004 Olympics, defeating Juan Ubaldo of the Dominican Republic and Andy Lee of Ireland on close countback decisions, but losing in the quarter-finals to eventual gold medallist Gaydarbek Gaydarbekov of Russia.
Following the Olympics, and having no means of boxing professionally in his native Cameroon, N'Jikam moved to France due to the shared language.
At the 2016 Olympics, professional boxers were permitted to compete at the Olympics for the first ever time. As one of the few professionals who entered, N'Jikam once again represented Cameroon and qualified for the light-heavyweight bracket, but lost in the first round to Michel Borges of Brazil. This was seen as a surprise to many boxing observers, who predicted that amateurs would not fare well against experienced professionals.

Professional career

N'Jikam made his professional debut on 4 December 2004, scoring a third-round stoppage against Alexis Culit. On 30 October 2010, having fought mainly in his adoptive France, N'Jikam won the vacant WBA interim middleweight title with a close unanimous decision over Avtandil Khurtsidze at the Palais des sports Marcel-Cerdan.
N'Jikam's only defense of his title was made on 2 April 2011 against Giovanni Lorenzo. He won a wide unanimous decision However, major controversy arose during the fight when N'Jikam was knocked out of the ring by a series of punches from Lorenzo in round five. A WBA official then helped N'Jikam back into the ring, which was against the sanctioning body's rules. Lorenzo's team later argued that this should have been grounds for immediate disqualification, as well as disputing the overly wide scorecards.
A purse bid was ordered between N'Jikam and WBA champion Gennady Golovkin. The purse bid was scheduled for 2 February 2012. However, days before the purse bid N'Jikam vacated his title rather than face Golovkin.
On 4 May 2012, N'Jikam won the vacant WBO interim middleweight title via unanimous decision against Max Bursak.
He was later promoted to full world champion status on 25 August, after Dmitry Pirog was stripped of the title for choosing to fight Gennady Golovkin instead of mandatory challenger N'Jikam. In his first world title defence on 20 October, as well as his first fight in the United States, N'Jikam suffered six knockdowns en route to a unanimous decision loss to Peter Quillin.
N'Jikam won an IBF title eliminator over Curtis Stevens with a unanimous decision. Stevens was knocked down in round 8. A second opportunity to become world champion came on 20 June 2015, against David Lemieux for the vacant IBF middleweight title.
N'Jikam again endured multiple knockdowns—four in total—but managed to go the distance to lose on the cards.
2016 saw N'Jikam reel off four consecutive victories, with a brief pause in August to compete in the 2016 Olympics. On 17 December, he emphatically re-entered the world title scene by becoming WBA interim middleweight champion for a second time, following a brutal one-punch knockout of Alfonso Blanco in only 22 seconds of the first round.
N'Jikam then won the full title with a controversial split decision win over Ryōta Murata on 27 May 2017. N'Jikam was knocked down in round 4 but survived and got the decision. When the result was announced, the crowd at Ariake Colosseum jeered. The two judges who scored the fight for N'Jikam were immediately suspended and WBA president Gilberto Mendoza issued a public apology. A rematch was immediately ordered by the WBA, and scheduled for 22 October.
On 22 October, Murata decisively beat N'Jikam, who threw in the towel after round 7. Murata's body attack wore his opponent down, he was also able to hurt him with a series of combinations. The fight was attended by 8,500 people at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan. This was N'Jikam's first stoppage loss.
On 22 December, 2018, N'Jikam managed to overcome a knockdown and beat former title-challenger Martin Murray via a majority-decision win. N'Jikam won on the of the scorecards, 117-112 and 116-112, while the third judge scored the fight a draw, 114-114.
On the Joshua vs Ruiz undercard, N'Jikam fought Callum Smith for his WBA world title. Smith would end up dropping N'Jikam three times. Despite getting up from the third knockdown too, the referee decided to stop the fight and award Smith the victory.
In his next fight, N'Jikam lost again, this time against WBA #1, WBC #6, IBF #8 and WBC #11 Fedor Chudinov in Russia.
On June 8, 2020, N'Jikam announced that he will transition into MMA, signing with French MMA promotion ARES FC.

Professional boxing record

No.ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes
42Loss37–5 Fedor ChudinovUD1213 Dec 2019 Manezh, Vladikavkaz, RussiaFor vacant WBA Gold super-middleweight title
41Loss37–4 Callum SmithTKO3, 2:561 Jun 2019 Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, USFor WBA and The Ring super-middleweight titles
40Win37–3 Martin Murray1222 Dec 2018 Manchester Arena, Manchester, EnglandWon WBC Silver middleweight title
39Loss36–3 Ryōta MurataRTD7, 3:0022 Oct 2017 Ryōgoku Kokugikan, Tokyo, JapanLost WBA middleweight title
38Win36–2 Ryōta Murata1220 May 2017 Ariake Colosseum, Tokyo, JapanWon vacant WBA middleweight title
37Win35–2 Alfonso BlancoKO1, 0:2217 Dec 2016 Stade de l'Est, Saint-Denis, FranceWon WBA interim middleweight title
36Win34–2 Tomasz GargulaTKO7 30 Jul 2016 La Palestre, Le Cannet, France
35Win33–2 Robert ŚwierzbinskiTKO2 27 May 2016 Cirque d'Hiver, Paris, France
34Win32–2 Patrick MendyUD812 Mar 2016 Palais des sports Marcel-Cerdan, Levallois-Perret, France
33Loss31–2 David LemieuxUD1220 Jun 2015 Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, CanadaFor vacant IBF middleweight title
32Win31–1 Curtis StevensUD121 Oct 2014 Barker Hangar, Santa Monica, California, US
31Win30–1 Fulgencio ZúñigaUD1016 Apr 2014 Barker Hangar, Santa Monica, California, US
30Win29–1 Ricardo Marcelo RamalloTKO4, 1:3215 Feb 2014 National Stadium, Dublin, Ireland
29Win28–1 Anthony FitzgeraldUD1014 Dec 2013 Pavelló de la Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain
28Loss27–1 Peter QuillinUD1220 Oct 2012 Barclays Center, New York City, New York, USLost WBO middleweight title
27Win27–0 Max BursakUD124 May 2012 Palais des sports Marcel-Cerdan, Levallois-Perret, FranceWon vacant WBO interim middleweight title
26Win26–0 Giovanni LorenzoUD122 Apr 2011 La Palestre, Le Cannet, FranceRetained WBA interim middleweight title
25Win25–0 Avtandil KhurtsidzeUD1230 Oct 2010 Palais des Sports, Paris, FranceWon vacant WBA interim middleweight title
24Win24–0 Omar Gabriel WeisKO8 12 Jun 2010 Jemaa el-Fnaa, Marrakech, MoroccoWon WBA International middleweight title
23Win23–0 Cagri ErmisTKO10 10 Dec 2009 La Palestre, Le Cannet, France
22Win22–0 Sergio Jose SandersTKO6 10 Dec 2009 Cirque d'Hiver, Paris, France
21Win21–0 Jefferson GonçaloUD1024 Oct 2009 La Palestre, Le Cannet, France
20Win20–0 Gennady MartirosyanKO10 27 Jun 2009 La Palestre, Le Cannet, France
19Win19–0 Michael MonaghanTKO7 28 May 2009 Cirque d'Hiver, Paris, France
18Win18–0 Samir Santos BarbosaTKO4 5 Mar 2009 Cirque d'Hiver, Paris, France
17Win17–0 Affif BelghechamUD1011 Dec 2008 Cirque d'Hiver, Paris, France
16Win16–0 Woulid GuarrasKO5 18 Sep 2008 Cirque d'Hiver, Paris, France
15Win15–0 Mehdi AmarUD815 May 2008 Cirque d'Hiver, Paris, France
14Win14–0 Eugen StanPTS817 Apr 2008 Cirque d'Hiver, Paris, France
13Win13–0 Mounir SahliRTD3 21 Feb 2008 Cirque d'Hiver, Paris, France
12Win12–0 Kamel BelhachemiKO1 24 Jan 2008 Cirque d'Hiver, Paris, France
11Win11–0 Mike AlgoetUD68 Dec 2007 La Palestre, Le Cannet, France
10Win10–0 Ali BenchablaTKO3 27 Oct 2007 Centre des Congrès des Vieilles-Forges, Les Mazures, France
9Win9–0 Mike Algoet629 Jun 2007 Palais des Sports, Marseille, France
8Win8–0 Malkaz Berkatsashvili5 6 Apr 2007 Gymnase Maurice Baquet, Pantin, France
7Win7–0 Vepkhia TchilaiaTKO5 24 Mar 2007 Palais des Sports, Tours, France
6Win6–0 Zied SassiTKO2 17 Jun 2006 Palais des Sports, Bondy, France
5Win5–0 Pavel Florin Madalin2 24 Feb 2006 Centre sportif, Pétange, Luxembourg
4Win4–0 Adrian CerneagaTKO3 31 Oct 2005 Centre sportif, Pétange, Luxembourg
3Win3–0 Lubo HantakTKO2 25 Jun 2005 Gymnase Georges Buffenoir, Rivery, France
2Win2–0 Didier Nkuku Mupeko84 Feb 2005 Châteauroux, France
1Win1–0 Alexis Culit3 4 Dec 2004 Tours, France