Boxing In France: N’Jikam vs. Lorenzo For WBA Title In Le Cannet

ByBoxing Press

Tonight at Le Cannet’s premier boxing venue, La Palestre, Interim WBA middleweight kingpin Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam offers up his belt for contention against challenger Giovanni Lorenzo.

This is the second occasion that N’Jikam has put his crown at risk since winning the strap last year against former light welter contender Omar Gabriel Weiss. Most recently the 27 year old Cameroon born French resident defended the Interim WBA bauble successfully in a hard fight against Avtandil Khurtsidze this past October.

This time, N’Jikam, 25-0 (17), faces 30 year old Dominican born New Yorker Giovanni Lorenzo, 29-3 (21), in what should be a good scrap as Lorenzo has gone the distance in competitive losing affairs against Felix Sturm, Sebastian Sylvester and Raul Marquez.

The Sturm and Sylvester bouts were for world titles and Lorenzo narrowly missed picking up the vacant IBF belt against Sylvester. This will be a good test for N’Jikam; if he’s world class, he should defeat Lorenzo and if he isn’t, Lorenzo will win this one.

Lorenzo is a good puncher, his last 11 wins since 2008 have been inside the distance, and given that this title challenge, just like his last two, are in the opponent’s home turf, he’ll need to maximize his potential and get N’Dikam out of there if he is to win this one.

N’Jikam has to straighten his punches and protect his chin better than he did in the Khurtsidze bout or else his wide swinging efforts will attract the hard-hitting counters of his taller challenger. The champion’s awkward style and unorthodox punch selection could give the much more orthodox Lorenzo problems.

The undercard features a fight for the vacant French bantam title between two undefeated prospects, Ali Hallab, 9-0-1 (5), and Amor Belahdj Ali, 8-0-1 (1).

This one is a rematch to the draw the pair fought for the French belt last October. Southpaw Ali hasn’t fought since the initial contest while Hallab, who has faced the more accomplished opponents and is a former EBA titlist, posted a six round points verdict over George Gachechiladze in February.