GOAT Cameroonian boxer?

Only a handful of notable pros in the sport's history (all still active or recent), along with a few Olympians.

Sakio Bika - perhaps the epitome of the "nearly man" for a good stretch of his career; officially 1-4-2 in world title bouts (unless you count the IBO). Always considered good enough to give the elites (and that includes his division's #1 & #2 ATG) hell, but despite his physical strength and rough-and-tumble, often dirty style never packed the one punch wallop to take it out of the judges' hands and was usually not rewarded by them on the cards when it counted. Hos single world title win, against Marco Antonio Periban, was controversial.

Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam - at one time, what seems aeons past now, was considered one point in a trident of middleweight prospects who seemed poised to share a lengthy reign in the division and on p4p lists while hopefully building up toward engaging in a 3-way rivalry (that sadly never materialized), along with Golovkin and Pirog. The early promise of his RJJ-like athleticism turned quickly to disappointment when he showed a JMM-like penchant for repeatedly eating canvas against too shelf opponents, costing him some key matches. He finally won the big one versus young Japanese phenom Ryoto Murata, albeit just as with Bika, controversially.

Herman Ngoudjo - another nearly man, now retired since the start of the decade and thus unlikely to ever put the icing on the cake with that elusive world championship. He baked a pretty moist and tasty body of work, though, going on form rather than results. He beat two world champions (Bailey and M'Baye) - but as with much of boxing, and life, it is all in the timing and neither man happened to hold a belt at the time. He also got robbed, argue many, against Malignaggi and Jose Luis Castillo, and has the rare non-controversial points win over fan darling Emanuel Augustus. Even past his prime and with a broken jaw sustained early, he put up a ferocious battle against Juan Urango in his final world championship try in a FOTY candidate.

Carlos Takam - rose from obscurity and impressed with his exciting draw versus Mike Perez, back when Perez was hailed widely by critics and expected to eventually slide into the same next gen heavyweight ruler niche manned now by Parker and Joshua. He then fought on very even terms with both Povetkin and Parker...but again, the legend of Takam is another built primarily on looking good in non-victorious struggles with highly respected talents. His best actual scalps are from the wrinkled pates of very old men: Thompson, Grant, Botha, etc.

To me, this quartet all occupy fairly similar territory h2h. Each is talented enough, yet flawed enough, to, on a given night, and depending on styles, potentially be just as likely to: completely thrash a weak belt holder, give a p4p rated divisional kingpin fits, or fail to hold the gate closed on a green but improving prospect on the cusp of graduating to contender, or get legitimately shut out by above of the above or anyone in between.

 

I think y'all must've forgot how low-key game AF the panther was. Give him the Malignaggi and JLC nods, and his record probably edges Bika's.

 

Alright, raising the bar - rank all 4 h2h.

 

You could argue that Ngoudjo and Takam did the same.


...and time will tell whether Murata (currently the best single official victory any ofthe foursome have on paper) continues and goes on to have a HOF career as some were projecting when he made the jump from the amateurs.

 

Also, while he gets a lot of shine for pushing Ward and Calzaghe hard, I have never once seen a credible argument that Bika deserved the nod in either case. He inflicted his style on them and dragged them into dirty brawls (which favor him) but even so both greats showed their class and IMO very clearly defeated him.

 

Meh, the reaction to it was overblown, I think. (just like with Pac vs. Horn)

This was my initial reaction:

 

...and without all those floor roundtrips, he'd boast a zero-popping W over Kid Chocolate. He also has some underrated names to his credit, like Stevens, Bursak, Khurtsidze, heralded Blanco via KTFO1 blitz, and Lorenzo.

He also, uniquely in this group, has nothing but eminently forgivable losses. Quillin and Lemieux, going the distance with both. No shame in that. Compare to such cringe-inducing blemishes as:

getting outhustled in your prime by featherfisted midget Soliman, or throwing away what could have been an easy world title eliminator opportunity with a blatantly unsportsmanlike foul to get disqualified against Mendy instead of just waiting for the kayo to come organically (as it would have within a round or two) and not forcing it, as Bika did.

losing to second rate kickboxer and 5th rate boxer Gregory Tony, as Takam did.

...to his credit, Ngoudjo doesn't have any unforgivable losses either. His first two were razor thin, against elites, and the latter two were past his prime and BOTH contested with broken jaws for most of the night.

 

Yeah, very specific, low-deviation curve. Just dumb luck really that N'Dam and Bika happen to be in the history books as titlists while Takam and Ngoudjo aren't.

Plus, you can't even point to all of them being products of the same national amateur/coaching system. HNN & Takam spent their whole careers based in France, Bika down under, and Ngoudjo in Canada. ​