Joseph Bessala

Joseph Bessala
Data
Birth Name	Joseph Bessala
Weight class	Welterweight
nationality	Cameroonian
birthday	January 1, 1941
place of birth	Douala
Date of death	April 24, 2010
Place of death	Yaoundé
Combat Statistics
Struggles	16
Victories	13
Knockout victories	5
Defeats	2
draw	1

Joseph Bessala (born January 1, 1941 in Douala , † April 24, 2010 in Yaoundé ) was a Cameroonian welterweight boxer .

amateur

Bessala won the Africa Games in Brazzaville in 1965 and twice the African welterweight championship (-67 kg): 1966 in Lagos (final victory over Eddie Blay ) and 1968 in Lusaka , there with a final victory over the Zambian Julius Luipa , against whom he could also prevail at the Olympics. At the military world championships in Fort Meade in 1967 , he won the silver medal after losing to Günther Meier , Germany , in the final .

At the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City , Bessala then won the silver medal. In the final he lost to Manfred Wolke from the GDR .

professional

In October, Bessala started his professional career with a first round win by technical knockout over the Belgian Jean-Pierre Heirmann . Six more wins followed, then a draw and another five wins. The last victory in November 1974 over Eddie Blay from Ghana , who won the bronze medal in the light welterweight division in 1964 , earned him the African welterweight title . Salam Ouédraogo from Ivory Coast took the title from him in January 1976. After a long break, Bessala fought his way back to the African Championship in June 1978 from his compatriot Bechir Boundka . In his sixteenth fight, Bessala wanted to defend the title again. But Mimoun Mohatar from Morocco knocked him out in the twelfth round in December 1978. Bessala drew the consequences and resigned from boxing.

Web links

• Joseph Bessala in the BoxRec database