American Peter Quillin (28-0, 20) successfully claimed the WBO Middleweight title after winning an interesting bout with French based-Cameroon born Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam (27-1, 17) in a bout that saw someone's 0 needing to go.
The bout started well for the defending champion who appeared to clearly take the opening 3 rounds with a combination of his fast, accurate hands and his excellent movement which at times left Quillin looking clueless. In round 4 however Quillin had his first real moments of success as he tagged N'Dam for the first time before twice dropping N'Dam N'Jikam to score a 10-7 round and bring the scores level on my card at 37-37. At this point it seemed clear that Quillin was going to stop N'Dam N'Jikam.
Following the excellent 4th round for Quillin it was surprising to see him give away the initiative the following round as N'Dam N'Jikam was allowed to recover his legs and regain the lead on my card. Quillin didn't once try to force the issue and although he stalked his man he simply refused to let his hands go enough to take advantage of a still shaken N'Dam N'Jikam.
Amazingly despite giving away round 5, Quillin came out in round 6 with bad intentions and again dropped N'Dam N'Jikam twice to claim a second 10-7 round. This round also saw Quillin inflicting a nasty looking cut over his opponents eye and once again it appeared as if Quillin was heading towards a clear stoppage win. N'Dam N'Jikam was really looking hurt when he was tagged and on a number of occasions appeared done though showed amazing heart and fantastic recuperative ability.
Shockingly in round 7 Quillin again allowed N'Dam N'Jikam off the hook and instead of going in for the kill he sat on the ropes and allowed N'Dam N'Jikam to out work him and re-establish himself. It was bizarre that Quillin didn't try and finish off his man whilst he was still hurt for a second time and instead allowed N'Dam N'Jikam to claim the round with real ease.
N'Dam N'Jikam built on his success from round 7 and appeared to sweep rounds 9-11 with his superior work rate nd actually appeared to hurt Quillin at several points as some thought he may just have sneaked into the lead. Sadly for N'Dam however his fate was sealed in the last 30 seconds of the bout as Quillin dropped him twice to claim a third 10-7 round and also claim a very narrow win.
Despite only clearly winning 3 rounds Quillin's power had been the difference between the two men as those 3 10-7 rounds were the difference between winning and losing on my card. Sadly however the official judges (who all posted cards of 115-107) appeared to have failed to credit N'Dam N'Jikam for his success, and scoring the bout 7-5 in favour of Quillin was a joke. No argument with Quillin winning, the knockdowns secured him the win, but giving Quillin 7 rounds is a real, real travesty.
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