Cameroon-born 2004 Olympian Carlos Takam is the new World Boxing Federation World Heavyweight Champion after taking the title from American Michael Grant Friday May 24 at the Gymnase du Clos de l’Arche in hometown Noisy-le-Grand, France.

According to the official website of the World Boxing Federation, Takam took charge from the start, and was quickly able to close the distance on his taller opponent before throwing and connecting with well-timed hooks from both hands. The defending champion fought mostly on the back foot, and just didn’t seem to have an answer to the clever boxing of the challenger. In round four, Grant finally had some success and started to work harder, but Takam just stepped it up himself and continued to dominate. The visitor relied mostly on landing his powerful right hand, but had too little success to keep Takam off. In round eight, Takam landed a huge left uppercut that shook Grant to his boots. As he quickly followed up and landed another combination, the corner of Grant had seen enough and threw in the towel at the same time as referee Ingo Barrabas stepped in to wave it off. Time was 0:50. The new world champion, who improved his record to 28-1 (22), was ecstatic after completing his masterpiece, while Grant, now 48-5 (36), congratulated him on a job well done. At the time of the stoppage, judges Jean-Marcel Nartz, Toni Tiberi and Ernst Salzgeber had Takam clearly ahead with scores of 70-63, 69-64 and 70-62. The fight was promoted by Joseph Germain. The man called Carlos Takam

Carlos Takam
Photo: © WBF

Armand Carlos Netsing Takam was born on December 6, 1980 and is a boxer who represented Cameroon at the 2004 Summer Olympics at super heavyweight. In 2003, at the All-Africa Games in Abuja, Nigeria, he captured the bronze medal in his weight division. A year later, he represented Cameroon at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece but was beaten in the round of sixteen by Egypt's Mohamed Aly. Takam qualified for the Athens Games by winning the gold medal at the 1st AIBA African 2004 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Casablanca, Morocco. In the decisive final of the event he defeated Angolan fighter Georgio Cabta. He made his debut as a professional in France on December 10, 2005, when he defeated Zinidine Benmakhouf of Belgium.