Joseph Bessala (1 January 1941 – 25 April 2010) was a

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

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Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

Amateur

In 1965, Bessala won the All-Africa Games in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo. He twice won the African Championships in welterweight: in 1966 in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 fo ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, (prevailing over

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

ian,

Eddie Blay Edward "Eddie" Blay (9 November 1937 – 15 October 2006) was a Ghanaian boxer. He competed at the 1960 and 1964 Olympics and won a bronze medal in the light welterweight (63.5 kg) category in 1964. Blay was a two-time Commonwealth Games ...

in the final) and 1968 in Lusaka,

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

, where he prevailed in the final fight over the Zambian, Julius Luipa, whom he beat again at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

. He won the silver medal at the 1968 Olympic Games in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

. In the final, he was lost to East Germany's

Manfred Wolke Manfred Wolke (born 14 January 1943 in Babelsberg, Brandenburg) is a German former welterweight boxer. He was a member of the ''Armeesportsklub Vorwärts Frankfurt an der Oder''. Wolke, representing East Germany, was the Welterweight ...

Amateur highlights

*1965 won the All-Africa Games in Brazzaville, Congo. Beat in the final

Issake Dabore Issake Dabore (1940 – 25 December 2021) was a boxer from Niger who mainly fought in the light-welterweight and welterweight weight classes. Dabore competed at three Olympics; Tokyo 1964, Mexico City 1968 and Munich 1972. He was the first ...

(Nigeria) by TKO-2. *1966 won the African Championships in Lagos, Nigeria. Beat

(Ghana) in the final. *1968 won the African Championships in Lusaka, Zambia. Beat Julius Luipa (Zambia) in the final.

1968 Olympic results

Below are the results of Joseph Bessala, a welterweight boxer from Cameroon, who competed at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics: * Round of 64: bye * Round of 32: defeated

Luis Gonzales Luis F. Mercado (June 21, 1928 – March 15, 2012) also known as Luis Gonzales, was a Filipino actor who appeared in more than 100 films during his career, most of them by Sampaguita Pictures. Early life Raised in Tondo, Manila, Gonzales may ...

(Chile) on points, 5-0 * Round of 16: defeated Julius Luipa (Zambia) by a second-round knockout * Quarterfinal: defeated

Victor Zilberman Victor Zilberman (born 20 September 1947) is a retired boxer from Romania. He competed in three consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1968 (Mexico City). He also won 8 national senior titles and two silver medals at the European Amateur Boxin ...

(Romania) by a third-round technical knockout * Semifinal: defeated

Mario Guilloti Mario Guilloti González (20 May 1946 – 25 August 2021) was an Argentine boxer, who won the bronze medal in the men's welterweight (– 67 kg) category at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico. A year earlier he claime ...

(Argentina) on points, 5-0 * Final: lost to

(East Germany) on points, 1-4 (was awarded silver medal)

Professional

In October, Bessala started his professional career with a victory, where he defeated the

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

's Jean-Pierre Heirmann with a first-round technical knockout. Six victories, one draw, and yet another five victories followed. In November 1974, the last victory over

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, who had won the bronze medal in the class of super lightweight in 1964, gained Bessala the African title in the welterweight class. The title was taken from him by Salem Ouedraogo from the Côte d'Ivoire in January 1976. After a longer break, Bessala gained back the African title from his fellow countryman, Bechir Boundka in June 1978. He aimed to defend this title again in his 16th fight, but Mimoun Mohatar from

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

knocked him out in the 12th round in December 1978. Bessala retired from boxing shortly thereafter.

References

*
Joseph Bessala's obituary

1941 births 2010 deaths Boxers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers for Cameroon Olympic silver medalists for Cameroon Sportspeople from Douala Olympic medalists in boxing Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Cameroonian male boxers African Games gold medalists for Cameroon African Games medalists in boxing Boxers at the 1965 All-Africa Games Welterweight boxers African Boxing Union champions 20th-century Cameroonian people {{Cameroon-boxing-bio-stub