The WBA, after going through 15 months with a “Super,” “Regular,” and “Interim” champ at 160 lbs., has finally ordered two of the three belts to be unified in an intriguing battle of unproven, but interesting young fighters– Gennady Golovkin (22-0, 19 KOs) and Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam (26-0, 17 KOs).
Golovkin, the 29-year-old regular world champ from Kazakhstan, won the vacant interim WBA strap in August of 2010 against Milton Nunez and was bumped up to “regular” status four months later. In his seventeen months as a WBA middleweight belt holder, the aggressive pressure fighter has beaten Nunez, Nilson Tapia, Kassim Ouma, and Lajuan Simon.
N’Jikam, the 27-year-old interim WBA titlist from France by way of Cameroon, won his title in a bout against Avtandil Khurtsidze in October of 2010. Since sporting the strap, N’Jikam has had only one championship bout, a twelve round unanimous decision over Giovanni Lorenzo of the Dominican Republic in April of 2011.
Golovkin and N’Jikam, ranked #10 and #11, respectively, in the unbiased Boxing Tribune World Rankings, are merely solid prospects at this stage of their careers, despite their title-holder status within the WBA. Felix Sturm, the long reigning WBA “super” world middleweight champ, is still regarded as the organization’s only world titlist by The Boxing Tribune.
The organization-mandated purse bid will be held on February 2nd in the WBA’s home offices in Panama. At the conclusion of the purse bid, the two fighters will have to face one another within a 90-day period.
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