While it is a well-matched fight between two quality journeymen, Cameroon-born Bernard Donfack (16-11-3, 8 KOs) must be considered a slight favorite when he takes on Tanzanian champion Said Mbelwa (23-12-4, 15 KOs) for the vacant World Boxing Federation International Light Heavyweight title on September 7 in Saarbruecken, Germany.
Being part of the WBF World Convention Champions Boxing Night at the traditional Saarlandhalle, presented by DOG Eventboxing, the fight is a clash of two honest warriors who are used to fighting as the “B side” but will now have a better than usual chance to win a title.
Donfack, based in Berlin for his entire professional career, turned pro in 2005 and went 6-7-3 in his first sixteen paid bouts before turning things around for himself in 2008 where he started an eight-fight winning streak and won a couple of minor championships.
Having only lost to top-quality opponents and known for always giving his all, Donfack has been in with names such as Armin Dollinger (13-0), Alexander Awdijan (17-1-1), Dawid Kostecki (24-1-1), Piotr Wilczewski (15-0) and Server Yemurlayev (15-0), just to name a few, and none of these have managed to stop him inside the distance.
After two stoppage victories earlier this year, Donfack jumped in at one days notice to fight hot prospect Konni Konrad (18-1) this past July, and almost pulled off the upset by only losing a narrow majority decision after twelve rounds. Now coming in with weeks of preparation, he will be looking to beat Mbelwa in impressive fashion.
But Said Mbelwa, nine years the younger man at 24, is no push-over and sees this as his opportunity to make a break-through in Europe. Three of his last five bouts were in Europe, where he lost decisions to Bilel Lathreche (13-4-1) in France, Balazs Keleman (17-0) in Hungary, and Tamas Kovacs (22-0) in Slovakia.
Coming off a victory in July at home in Tanzania, he will be travelling to Germany full of confidence and focused on bringing the WBF title home to Tanzania.
The Bernard Donfack vs. Said Mbelwa International Light Heavyweight title fight is one of four WBF championships on the line at the WBF World Convention Champions Boxing Night at the Saarlandhalle in Saarbruecken, Germany on September 4.
The World Boxing Federation World Convention will take place from September 5 to September 8. To learn more, please visit:
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
