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Watch out Calzaghe, this Scorpion called Bika Stings Hard
Sakio
Sakio "The Scorpion" Bika
By Paul Upham: For all of his years, Sakio "The Scorpion" Bika has been struggling for opportunities to make his life better. Not much has ever simply been handed to him, which is why he was so surprised to get a shot at super middleweight world champion Joe Calzaghe this Saturday night at the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester, England. Fighting his way out of the means streets of Cameroon, Bika has overcome many obstacles, even the odd scorpion bite, just to survive.
"I was very surprised to get this chance," Bika told SecondsOut. "Maybe they think they are getting some easy fight. Maybe they don't know who I am. If so, they are going to be very surprised.
"If they think this will be a very easy fight, good luck to them. For me, I am going into the ring with Calzaghe to give him a very hard fight. I am not just going there to fight, I am going to take the belts off of him and show the world I am the best. When I become world champion, they can talk about me all around the world."
When Sakio Bika Mbah was born in Douala in the Littoral Province of Cameroon on April 18, 1979 no one would have know that one of the future African boxing stars had arrived. Raised with eight brothers and sisters in the Atlantic Ocean port city in the south of Cameroon, it is one of the countries largest with a population of over one million people. Success on the world sporting stage is one of the few ways for the people of Cameroon to rise up above the tough day to day struggle of life.
While boxing has always been pursued actively in the country where football and survival takes precedence over just about everything else, at the age of 14 Bika fell in love with punching the heavy bag and combat in the ring after watching some local amateur tournaments.
"I loved boxing right away," he said. "I was so close to the gym and all the time I am going to the gym."
He spent hour after hour training at the local gymnasium and despite good progress, missed out on selection for the 1996 Olympic Games. But with four more years experience behind him, he not only qualified for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, he became the all-African middleweight amateur champion.
"I was very happy as I won all of my five fights at the African championships," he said. "In the semi-final I had to fight a Tunisian fighter and he was very good. People weren't expecting me to win. I was very happy when I went to the final because I knew that I had qualified for the Olympic Games in Sydney."
While competing at the Sydney Olympics was one of the high points of his life, a controversial points decision loss 8-5 to Canadian Scott MacIntosh somewhat soured his trip.
"It was so disappointing for me," he said.
The decision brought boos from the crowd and a protest from the Cameroon officials against the referee, as they felt that there had been too many cautions and no warnings had been given against the Canadian for holding. But the protest was denied.
Impressing many good local boxing judges in training and his losing performance, Bika decided to stay in Australia to pursue a professional career and worked with trainer Mark Pitts, before moving on to Team Fenech with three-time world champion Jeff Fenech and Billy Hussein. After a period of time of working at a number of different gyms, Bika rejoined Pitts earlier this year.
"I had to ring my family after the Olympics and ask them whether I should stay. They told me that I should decide," said Bika. "They have always wanted me to do what it is best for me, they always pushed me to go to school. They wanted me home, but they wanted me to take my opportunities. They said that I should decide if I wanted to become a professional boxer. I was thinking about going home to Cameroon and trying to win a medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. I rang my mother back home and asked her what I should do and she told me that only I could make the decision."
Finishing his amateur career with a 115-21 record, Bika turned professional in December 2000 and met future wife Belinda at Darling Harbour in Sydney early on in his time in Australia. The two were married on October 29, 2001.
"Belinda is very good and looks after me. She loves to watch me boxing," said Bika. "She always looks after me when I finish training. Belinda motivates me to train and is always pushing me to go running."
Their first son Zidane Gabriel Bika was born last November. Bika is a huge football fan and while he is a staunch supporter of his native Cameroon team, he appreciates the genius of the French master Zinedine Zidane, thus the naming of his son.
A strong and well built powerhouse, his physique seemingly carved from stone, Bika has dominated most opponents with an aggressive, crowd pleasing style which has seen him quickly become a television and crowd favourite.
The only marks on his early record being a draw against Harmen Ajadato in December 2002, which was a technical decision after an accidental head clash. His only career loss being a disputed majority points decision in Melbourne in October 2002 to current middleweight title contender "King" Sam Soliman, who gave the pound for pound rated Winky Wright all he could handle last December. It is a good measure of Bika's talent.
While he is really a middleweight, Bika had his first taste of big time boxing on May 13 this year in his fight with WBC super middleweight world champion Markus Beyer, which was ruled a technical draw after four rounds in Germany. Beyer sustained a bad cut below his right eye and was deemed unable to continue by the ringside doctor.
"Anyone who watches the fight can see for justice to be served, they have to give me a rematch," Bika said, after the fight. "I ask the WBC to review the fight and order a rematch."
The cut was ruled to be caused by an accidental head clash, which allowed Beyer to retain his title at the Stadthalle in Zwickau. But Bika is adamant that it actually came from one of his punches.
"The cut came from a punch," he said. "As soon as it happened, Beyer came in and held me and put his head onto my head. He was trying to say it came from a head clash. But it was a punch."
After much confusion, it was nearly ten minutes before a final result was announced in the ring.
"I was thinking I was going to win the fight because the cut came from a punch," said Bika. "I was very angry and disappointed when they said it was a draw."
"Definitely, Beyer and his team didn't want a rematch," said trainer Mark Pitts. "Even German boxing fan's in the crowd said they won't give us a rematch."
After the disappointment of the Beyer fight, Bika received a chance to fight in the USA as part of the Showtime television network's super middleweight tournament, featuring eight of the division's young rising stars.
Bika was set to face Jose Luis Herrera from Colombia on August 4, only to injure his right elbow in sparring the week of the fight.
"I was very pissed off and unhappy," said Bika. "After flying all the way to America, I was asking 'why?' I wanted to go to America and show the fans what I can do on Showtime. It was very disappointing."
"Sakio was wondering where his career was going," said Pitts, "and there was no guarantee that we would have anything lined up by the end of the year."
After x-rays revealed a chipped bone, a doctor advised Bika to return to Australia.
On the way home, trainer Pitts jokingly told Bika that after everything that had happened to them this year, a fight with Joe Calzaghe was now only around the corner.
Little did Bika know that it actually was. Only days after returning home, Bika received another amazing phone call.
"I was very shocked when Angelo Hyder (Bika's manager) rang me to say I had the Calzaghe fight," he said. "I had just got out of surgery. I knew then that one door had closed and another door had opened. There was a reason and I was very happy."
Bika 20-1-2 (13) fully understands what he is up against this weekend. The undefeated 34 year-old Calzaghe 41-0 (31) from Wales has made eighteen defences of the WBO world title he first won from Chris Eubank nine years ago on October 11, 1997.
The southpaw's impressive win over the highly touted American Jeff Lacy in March was arguably the best win of his career.
"He is a great champion," acknowledged Bika. "I think he is the best super middleweight in the world at this moment. When he beat Jeff Lacy he proved that he is the best. He was very impressive that night. He showed the world that he can move and he can box. But with me, the fight will be very different. I know how to beat him. I am going to England and I will show the world how to beat him and to bring the world titles back to Australia."
Bika has overwhelmed most of his opponents with his amazing strength. He appears 'tank like' at times and has never been hurt or wobbled in the ring. Those who have had the displeasure of sparring him know that he comes to fight every time he steps between the ropes.
Local Australian folk law speaks memorably of the time Bika and one time Kostya Tszyu protégée Victor Oganov 25-0 (25) went to war at Tszyu's Gym one afternoon. One veteran boxing spectator present claimed it was one of the most explosive and brutal fights ever seen.
Light heavyweight contender Paul Briggs, who went to war with WBC champion Tomasz Adamek over the weekend in Chicago, has been sparring Bika for the last few weeks.
"Sakio can really surprise you if you underestimate him," he said. "He puts on good pressure and he is strong. If Calzaghe takes him lightly, Sakio will catch him, because he is banging hard. If you did hurt him, you wouldn't know it."
Former WBC Interim super middleweight champion Danny Green describes Bika uniquely.
"When you fight Sakio," he said, "you better go into the ring with bricks on your fists, because that's the only way you are going to hurt him. He is so tough."
The four rounds he fought with Beyer proved to Bika that he does have what it takes to become world champion.
"It gave me more confidence," he said. "I was ahead on points and I could see that I can win and become world champion. You have to know how to react to win the big fights. I felt more confident and they could not take that away from me with the draw decision."
"Sakio has even improved since the Germany fight," said Pitts. "He is moving more fluently and he is a little bit quicker. He is like a young lion who wants to take the old lion out. It is his time to own the pride. He has shown me a lot of intelligence as well as power and aggression. That and his passion is going to get him the win. I think Sakio has got more dimension to his game. Calzaghe got to a real high in the Lacy fight and if he doesn't get back to that high in this fight, he could be in a lot of trouble."
27 year-old Bika looks back in amazement at the twists and turns his career has taken over the last two years. It wasn't that long ago that his main goal was to get a ranking in the WBC top fifteen.
"This is a big chance for me," he said. "When I was fighting in Japan last year defending my OPBF middleweight title, I had no idea that this year I would be in two world title fights. You never know what is coming tomorrow. I have to take the chance and grab it with my two hands and not let the chance go away. I have the chance to fight the No.1 boxer at super middleweight and these kind of chances don't come along very often. You have to challenge yourself to become No.1. You have to take this kind of chance very seriously."
Like the miner who has found a large diamond in the middle of nowhere, yet trying to keep the information secret, Pitts is suppressing his enthusiasm for a fight that he feels his boxer has all the assets to win.
"Every now and then you get a good feeling about a fight and I have got a good feeling about this one," he said. "It is unexplainable, but sometimes things just happen for a reason and no one knows exactly why."
While Bika has never fought in England before, he has visited once and is planning on making his English boxing debut one to remember.
"This will be Calzaghe's first loss," predicts Bika. "He is only a man. He has two arms and two legs. He is not a monster. He does not have anything that I don't have. He is the world champion and he has had no losses. But I have things that he doesn't have and I will show them in this fight. If you beat the best, you become the best and people will always remember you. People will never forget about me when I give Calzaghe his first loss."
For those who scoff at Bika's chances, the fighter himself tells a story that UK boxing fans will remember.
"Just remember what happened last year in the same arena with Ricky Hatton and Kostya Tszyu," he explained. "Ricky was very hungry to win and to show the world that he could become the best by beating Kostya. In October 2006, I am going into the ring with Calzaghe very hungry. I want that world title. I am taking the world title back to Australia."
Paul Upham
Contributing Editor
Know next to nothing about this guy so anything helps. I'm sure he is strong and tough but Joe's always looked good against those kinds of guys, that just come forward and try to knock him out.
