Nadjib Mohammedi vs. Hadillah Mohoumadi

Headlining a card on Canal+ Sport tomorrow, a pair of fringe contender Frenchmen - both Arabs of North African descent (born in Bouches-du-Rhône & Paris, respectively) and both with histories of punching above their figurative weight and losing to world class elites but doing quite well on the Euro scene, to compound their confusingly proximate surnames - will clash for the vacant WBA Continental (Europe) super middleweight title. Neither is currently in the WBA top 15 at 168lbs (although both are probably more deserving than a few who are; David Brophy? Jayde Mitchell? Wtf...), and will be looking to break in with this big domestic triumph. It will also effectively determine the best SMW in France, with the national title held by Kevin Lele Sadjo - who is actually defending it on the undercard - merely decorative (Mohoumadi wore the belt himself in 2012-2013, which coincidentally happened to overlap with Mohammedi's second reign a division up, as the light heavyweight champion of France).

"Iron Djib" is best remembered by US audiences for his consecutive appearances on big HBO cards in 2015 and 2016, when he was knocked out by Sergey Kovalev & Oleksandr Gvozdyk. That rough patch brought an end to a very strong 4-year run of 13-0 (11) since his last early stoppage loss, to Dmitry Sukhotsky. Mohammedi's schedule has slowed; only putting in two ring appearances in as many years since the Gvozdyk loss, but they were two solid, comfortable points victories over scrappy Ukrainian-Polish trial horse Roman Shkarupa and fellow Algerian-Frenchman and former EBU and national champ Hakim Zoulikha.

Mohoumadi also happened to suffer his most recent defeat by way of early KO in April 2016 (blown out in 101 seconds by Mundo Smith just a week before Gvozdyk vs. Mohammedi) and is since doing alright for himself, snagging the Euro title last May and successfully overcoming a challenge from Christopher Rebrassé, taking a UD in a war last November. Just like Mohammedi, the most recent hiccup in his career had interrupted a positive stretch of a few years (including a win over Paweł Głażewski), going 6-0 (5) since his defeats by James DeGale and Nikola Sjekloca.

Neither has exceptionally great (nor exceptionally poor) speed, power, chin, footwork, or anything else, really. Just a couple of "pretty good" all-around fighters, whose chief attributes might be work rate and heart. Mohammedi has the more awkward style, while Mohoumadi could be called a bit more of a puncher.

In the co-featured bout, my buddy Rénald "Cœur de Lion" Garrido makes the first defense of his newly captured French light welterweight title, hoping to extend his feel-good run this year to wash away the sour taste of his downtrodden 2017, wherein his official 2-4-1 mark belies having been robbed not once but TWICE against the same person (Fātiḥ Keleş, a majority draw in July and MD loss in December, both absolutely horse manure). He deserves to bask in the warmth of being the big fish in a shallow pond for a while, after doing everything right and giving 100% every time out, and then not getting a fair shake on the road so many times (most egregiously in those ventures to Germany versus Keleş, but he also could have arguably gotten the nod against Frankie Gavin in the UK last May)

The entire card will air on Canal+ Sport, beginning at 1700 local time at the Marcel Cerdan Palace (late tomorrow morning for Yanks on the Atlantic seaboard; 11am EST). It will also feature a 10-rounder between French cruiser titlist Herve Lofidi and Brazilian glass cannon Julio César Dos Santos, as well as the aforementioned Kevin Lele Sadjo defense plus 5 more showcase matches for local prospects, all scheduled for 8 or fewer rounds.

 

Betting sites have different interpretations on this one; Mohammedi is a -165 favorite @ ProBoxingOdds (Mohoumadi +125) yet Betfair & PaddyPower have them flipped, installing Mohoumadi as the 8/11 fave.

 

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...all Greek to me, unfortunately. Is anybody in here fluent in the language of love and willing to provide synopsis?

 

Who do you like here?

 

Hot off the presses, for your perusal, each's latest form:

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(both fights were in November, co-featuring on the same card)

 

Ahh, c'mon, just have yourself a little amuse-bouche, watch like a round from each (they're both the kind of guys whose fights have that monotonous quality where you can pick a few minutes at random, and know that's how most of that night was likely going to look) to familiarize yourself with their styles.

I don't think Hadi is necessarily undergoing some middle-age resurgence, no. He probably would've always fought on pretty even terms with Rebrassé (but then, I also think Mohammedi could as well).

 

I'm really curious to see whose jab proves more successful. Counter-intuitive a statement as it may be, I think both have pretty raggedy, sub-par jabs and yet it can be the most effective tool for both of them, in the manner they use it. Not sure if that makes any sense? Basically, they both just flutter/push/lump out the jab - incorporating all the weak, flaccid versions of the shot, the furthest sorts imaginable from the classic Ike Quartey or Larry Holmes stiff & snappy lead punch (while sliding the front toes forward to shift body weight, if we're getting down to granular details re: textbook form) - and yet they both have seemingly endless stamina in their left arms, using the jab busily over the long haul to plug up any gaps in their melees' give & take, and both usually manage to disrupt their opponents' rhythm by keeping the jab annoyingly consistent in cotton-balling their faces. It doesn't serve the customary purposes of scoring clean points on its own, nor to set up other punches - it almost serves M & M as their front line of defense, allowing each to lead off exchanges with impunity without getting clocked in the middle of their wind-ups.

Mohoumadi is the more conventional boxer, which may prove advantageous or disadvantageous - eager to see which. Mohammedi lets his arms hang limp and sort of lets his upper body melt and pitch about in the pocket in a liquid manner, so even when he gets hit point-blank he's riding with shots or letting them skim the crown of his skull. Mohoumadi works from behind more of a typical European high guard. It'll be interesting to watch them react to each other's flood of soft, pesky jabs and see who gets touched more.

 

He's currently, if not my favorite active boxer, top 5.

 

Just realized I never did answer your question. Not dominant, no - close but clear, gritty win.

As for him pushing 40, he gave up his EBU title for this match-up, which leads me to believe he's all-in. Should he lose to Mohammedi, he'll probably call it a day. If he wins, he'll be hoping to leverage his (presumptive) new top 15 ranking to propel himself ASAP toward a cash-out title shot. Especially with the relatively weak Saint George sitting the 168lb throne, I don't think Mohoumadi (or Mohammedi for that matter) is ever going to see a more plausible route to fulfilling their long-shot world title ambitions. That said, I'd favor Groves to stop both of them.

 

Self-deprecating IB funfact:

Glutton for exactitude that I am, I pissed away nearly an hour this early afternoon researching Mohoumadi's background in the interest of putting accurate data in the OP. I settled on the awkward phrasing of "a pair of fringe contender Frenchmen - both Arabs of North African descent (born in Bouches-du-Rhône & Paris, respectively)" in lieu of my initial but quickly second-guessed wording of "Algerian-Frenchmen", even though I'm fairly certain that Hadi, despite his much darker complexion with its suggestion of some greater admixture of relatively modern Sub-Saharan ancestry, does in fact come from Algerian (or perhaps Moroccan) stock, just going by the demographic prevalence of his first & last name, or approximate spelling variants of them.

Rolled a doughnut on whence his family originally hails, even after translating several Francophone articles spotlighting him (with frustratingly sparse biographical details).

Why am I such a ****ing nerd?

 

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