Baby Jake Matlala is another. Shortest ever world champion. Came to Scotland and destroyed Pat Clinton for the flyweight word ttle in 1993
Definitely agree with Kalambay! I usually think of him as European because he fought out Italy mostly but you are 100% correct that he is African born. What a great fighter!
Some fighters of note from Northern Africa: Nino Larocca was 74-6 (54 KOs). He fought a near-prime Donald Curry for the title, but lost. He was born in Mauritania, and I believe he's the only pro boxer ever from that country. Taufik Belbouli was a Cruiserweight Champion from Tunisia. He won the title by stopping Michael Greer, and had 1 defense, a draw vs. Robert Daniels. He was 29-1-1 23KOs, with his only loss being to Yawe Davis of Uganda. Belbouli also had a KO win over Marvin Camel earlier in his career. Khalid Rahilou (Morocco) KO'd Frankie Randall to win a belt. Made a couple of defenses before losing to Sharmba Mitchell.
After Nelson and Tiger you get some very, very distant thirds. I don't see any actually good arguments that those aren't the top two though. They are Ali and Louis of this question. Stack them however, but they're a clear cut above.
Who was that tough as teak Belgian cruiserweight that never got dropped or stopped in his career? Think he was originally North African. Fought David Haye among others. EDIT: Ismail Abdoul. Looks like Wlod stopped him early in his career. But no one else.
Damn. Good call. Forgot about him. He was either of Moroccan or Tunisian descent I believe. Seems like there haven't been a ton of notable fighters from North Africa. Another Cruiserweight from Africa was Anaclet Wamba. He was from Congo, and won a title and defended it 6 times.
Sumbu Kalambay needs to be mentioned. Even though he’s classified as an Italian boxer he’s technically from Africa since he was born in Congo. Great technician and also schooled a previously unbeaten Mike McCallum.
I agree that Tiger and Nelson are top two, but Marcel Cerdans accomplishments make him a close number 3. Born in Algeria and had many fights in that African country.