Boxing, MMA and martial arts in Cameroon

Boxing, the country's first Olympic medal

Born in Douala on 19 April 1941, Joseph Bessala won welterweight silver at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, losing the final 4-1 on the judges' cards to East Germany's Manfred Wolke. It was Cameroon's first ever Olympic medal. Bessala had already won gold at the 1965 All-Africa Games in Brazzaville and the African title in 1966 and 1968. He died in Yaoundé in April 2010.

Sixteen years later, at Los Angeles 1984, Martin Ndongo-Ebanga took lightweight (under 60 kg) bronze, beaten in the semi-final by Puerto Rico's Luis Ortiz. He was just 18. No Cameroonian boxer has stood on an Olympic podium since.

The 2012 London Games left another memory: seven members of Cameroon's delegation went missing during the competition, five of them boxers (Thomas Essomba, Christian Donfack Adjoufack, Abdon Mewoli, Blaise Yepmou Mendouo and Serge Ambomo), all of whom had gone out in their first or second bout. Three Cameroonian boxers competed at Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021); none went to Paris 2024, where the delegation numbered just six athletes.

Professional boxers

The two big names of Cameroonian professional boxing both went through the 2004 Athens Games before settling in France. Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam, born in Yaoundé in 1984, was recognised as WBO middleweight world champion in 2012, then became WBA champion in 2017 by beating Japan's Ryota Murata in Tokyo on a hotly disputed split decision. Carlos Takam, a heavyweight born in Douala in 1980, challenged Anthony Joshua for the WBA, IBF and IBO titles in Cardiff in October 2017, after being called up twelve days before the fight; he lasted until the tenth round. In March 2023, aged 42, he beat Olympic champion Tony Yoka on points.

Francis Ngannou and MMA

Born in 1986 in Batié, in the West region, Francis Ngannou worked in a sand quarry as a child, left for Europe, lived on the streets of Paris and then discovered mixed martial arts (MMA) at Fernand Lopez's MMA Factory. On 27 March 2021 he knocked out Stipe Miocic in the second round to become UFC heavyweight champion, the organisation's first Cameroon-born champion. He defended the title against Ciryl Gane in January 2022, then left the UFC in January 2023 after failing to agree a new contract.

At home, the Francis Ngannou Foundation, funded at first from his own pocket and later also by donations, runs training gyms in Batié and Douala and donates school equipment, including computer labs in under-served villages.

Traditional wrestling

On the slopes of Mount Cameroon, the Bakweri practise pala-pala, a traditional form of wrestling held as the rainy season gives way to the dry season, in an open arena ringed by villagers. According to a study presented at an academic conference in 2023, a bout has three one-minute rounds; the winner is whoever pins the opponent or lifts them clean off the ground, and the tournaments also serve to spot wrestlers for the national team.

The Far North is the other stronghold. In April 2017 an inter-regional championship of traditional African wrestling in Yagoua brought together eleven councils of Mayo-Danay, five of Mayo-Kani and the University of Maroua; the title went to Baïséma, a wrestler from the canton of Gougoudoum. In February 2024 Cameroon Tribune was still describing Mayo-Danay as a 'reservoir' of athletics and traditional wrestling, during a talent-spotting tour.

In Olympic wrestling, Joseph Essombe finished fifth in women's freestyle 53 kg at the Tokyo Games, held in 2021. The Cameroon Wrestling Federation (Fecaluttes) has been through a governance crisis: in December 2022 the sports ministry ordered it to call an elective general assembly after the one of 26 November 2022 fell through.

Judo, taekwondo, karate, sambo

Judo was the only combat sport in which Cameroon competed at Paris 2024, with Richelle Soppi Mbella at over 78 kg. On the continent, Cameroonian judoka are regular medallists: seven medals (one silver, six bronze) at the African Championships in Abidjan in April 2025, then six medals and third place in the nations' table in Nairobi in April 2026.

In 2025 the taekwondo federation took part in more international events than any other discipline highlighted by Cameroon Tribune. The president of the karate federation, Bertin Dongmo, was elected secretary general of the African Karate Federation.

Boxing federation under caretaker rule

The Cameroon Boxing Federation (Fécaboxe) was long headed by Bertrand Mendouga, who was elected president of the African Boxing Confederation in July 2016. On 20 November 2025 sports minister Narcisse Mouelle Kombi set up a normalisation committee, in agreement with the African Boxing Confederation; its membership was confirmed on 6 January 2026. Chaired by judge Jean Chrysostome Kana, it has six months to run day-to-day business and organise elections, in which its members may not stand.

Frequently asked questions