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Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam
Born	(1984-02-18) 18 February 1984 (age 40) Buea, Cameroon
Other names	Phenomeno
Statistics
Weight(s)	Middleweight Super-middleweight
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Reach	1.87 m (74 in)
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	44
Wins	38
Wins by KO	21
Losses	6
Medal record Men's amateur boxing Representing  Cameroon All-Africa Games 2003 Abuja Middleweight African Championships 2003 Yaoundé Middleweight

Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam (born 18 February 1984) is a Cameroonian professional boxer. He has held two middleweight world championships; including the WBO title in 2012 and the WBA (Regular) title in 2017, and has challenged once for a super-middleweight world title in 2019.

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 (117-111, 115-114, 115-114) 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 (119-109, 119-110, 116-111) 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 (Regular) 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 (107-115, 107-115, 107-115) to Peter Quillin.

N'Jikam won an IBF title eliminator over Curtis Stevens with a unanimous decision (119-108, 116-111, 116-111). 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 (109-115, 109-115, 110-114).

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 (Regular) title with a controversial split decision (116-111, 115-112, 110-117) 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 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

References

1. ^ DAZN tale of the tape prior to the Callum Smith fight.
2. "ATHENS 2004 - BOXING 69 - 75 KG MEN RESULTS". olympics.com. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
3. Fischer, Doug (15 February 2014). "Q&A: Hassan N'dam N'Jikam". The Ring. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
4. Associated Press (7 August 2016). "Pro trip: Hassan N'Dam loses opening fight at Rio Olympics". Retrieved 28 December 2016.
5. LaBate, Chris (30 October 2010). "N'Jikam Decisions Khurtsidze, Wins WBA Interim Title". BoxingScene. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
6. "Lorenzo Protests Decision Loss To Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam". BoxingScene. 15 April 2011. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
7. "Gennady Golovkin — Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam Ordered by WBA, Purse Bid on February 2". 26 January 2012.
8. "Golovkin's Manager: N'Jikam Has Refused to Fight Gennady". BoxingScene.com.
9. Donovan, Jake (4 May 2012). "Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam Tops Max Bursak, Wins Interim Title" BoxingScene. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
10. Stangrit, Gregory (3 September 2012). "Dmitry Pirog Not Surprised WBO Took Away His Title". BoxingScene. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
11. "Peter Quillin beat Hassan N'Dam to become WBO middleweight champion". Sky Sports. Sky. 12 October 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
12. "N'Dam captures decision win over Stevens". ESPN.com. 2 October 2014.
13. "Montreal's David Lemieux defeats N'Dam to win IBF middleweight title". Montreal. 21 June 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
14. Fischer, Doug (21 June 2015). "David Lemieux outslugs Hassan N'Dam to earn IBF middleweight title". The Ring. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
15. Ecksel, Robert (17 December 2016). "Hassan N'Dam KOs Blanco in 22 Seconds". WBA. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
16. "N'Dam keeps title with split decision vs. Murata". ESPN.com. 20 May 2017.
17. "N'Dam-Murata judges suspended over scoring". ESPN.com. 26 May 2017.
18. "Boxing-WBA order rematch of N'Dam-Murata title fight". Eurosport. 21 May 2017. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
19. "Ryota Murata vs. Hassan N'Dam Rematch on October 22". 3 August 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
20. Stumberg, Patrick L. (22 October 2017). "Murata stops N'Dam in rematch". Bad Left Hook.
21. "Hassan N'Dam Overcomes Knockdown, Beats Martin Murray". BoxingScene.com. 22 December 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
22. Christ, Scott (1 June 2019). "Callum Smith blows out Hassan N'Dam in three rounds". Bad Left Hook. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
23. "Chudinov vs N'Dam - News, Tape, Ringwalk, TV, Streaming & Tickets". Box.Live. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
24. "Hassan N'Dam Transitions Into MMA, Signs With League ARES FC". BoxingScene.com. 8 June 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2020.

External links

• Boxing record for Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam from BoxRec (registration required)
• 2003 All Africa Games results
• Hassan N'dam N'Jikam - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings at Box.Live

• 1984 births
• Living people
• Cameroonian male boxers
• Boxers at the 2004 Summer Olympics
• Boxers at the 2016 Summer Olympics
• Olympic boxers for Cameroon
• World Boxing Organization champions
• World middleweight boxing champions
• African Games silver medalists for Cameroon
• African Games medalists in boxing
• Cameroonian emigrants to France
• World Boxing Association champions
• Competitors at the 2003 All-Africa Games