By Ryan Maquiñana

Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam’s two children, aged four and two, are over 5,600 miles away in Seine-Saint-Denis, France, and the fact that he hasn’t been able to see them in months has made him one angry dad.

“It’s part of the sacrifice for my family,” N’Dam said Wednesday from his Southern California camp heading into his ESPN2-televised Oct. 1 IBF middleweight title eliminator (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT), “and the only guy who’s going to pay for that is Curtis Stevens in the ring.”

Frustration has been a prolonged experience for the 30-year-old N’Dam (30-1, 18 KOs). In April, he dominated shopworn veteran Fulgencio Zuniga over 10 rounds at the Barker Hangar in nearby Santa Monica. However, he spent most of the encounter fighting with one arm because the Frenchman by way of Cameroon had ruptured his left bicep in the fourth frame.

Faced with either having surgery or letting the injury heal on its own, N’Dam eschewed the proposition of going under the knife.

“Some doctors say that when you get surgery, it actually makes your tendon more sensitive and it can break again,” N’Dam said after his penultimate sparring session at the Rock Boxing Gym in Carson. “I decided instead to have a rehabilitation period of two months.”

Despite the obvious concern about his body withstanding a potential 12 rounds of violence next Wednesday, N’Dam claims his confidence has been rebuilt through a rigorous training regimen.

“I’ve sparred for six weeks,” N’Dam said. “I’ve had all kinds of different sparring partners. I don’t have any negative sensations in my arm, and it doesn’t hurt at all. I have no apprehension about that for the fight.”

Stevens (27-4, 20 KOs) will certainly push N’Dam to his physical limits. The 29-year-old New Yorker has developed a reputation as a puncher (eight of his last 10 wins have come by stoppage), but his extensive amateur background, handspeed and effective combinations afford him the ability to box as well.

For his part, N’Dam foresees Stevens bringing a style into the ring more reflective of the former than the latter.

“Yes, Stevens has been successful lately, but you have to question what fighters he was successful against,” N’Dam said. “I’m a different type of fighter. It’s going to be a bullfight. I’m going to be the matador, and Stevens will be the bull. He won’t be able to touch me. It’s like I’m going to be the teacher, and he will be the student.”

In preparation, N’Dam also studied Stevens’ technical knockout loss to WBA 160-pound titleholder Gennady Golovkin last November.

“The thing I learned is that Stevens is not a fighter,” N'dam said. “He quit the fight in the eighth round standing up, and that shows he doesn’t have the nerve to fight to the end. That’s different from the way I view how to fight.”

Though N’Dam is of foreign origin, he can lay claim to being the house fighter in this clash. His new promoter, entertainment mogul Michael King, outbid Stevens’ promoter, Main Events, $80,000 to $62,000 back in July for the right to host the bout, which will again take place at the Barker Hangar.

Such support is a welcome occurrence for N’Dam, who faced the exact opposite situation when he traveled to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center in 2012 and lost his WBO middleweight belt to Golden Boy-backed Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin.

“I feel like I’m fighting at home. My training camp is here at The Rock,” N’Dam said. “I learned a lot about the fight against ‘Kid Chocolate.’ Being here in America for a while now, now anywhere I fight feels like I’m at home.”

The exciting affair in Brooklyn was marked by N’Dam capturing most of the rounds with his excellent footwork, accurate shots and signature smooth boxing, but Quillin rightfully won the fight by virtue of decking the Frenchman six times -- including twice in the 12th and final frame.

“I learned that I will never, ever again do a fight when I’m not prepared, especially for a fight that important,” N’Dam said. “I was coerced into taking the fight against Quillin. I was not prepared because I had multiple surgeries six times in my mouth after complications with my wisdom teeth, and I only had one month to train.

“Golden Boy said if I do not take the fight, I will be stripped of my belt, so I said I would take the fight. If I’m going to lose my title, I’d rather do it fighting because I’m a fighter. Also, there was supposed to be a rematch (clause) in the contract, but Quillin never did the rematch.”

Before he can even think of a return bout, he still needs to get past the dangerous Stevens, with the winner getting a shot at current IBF 160-pound titleholder Sam Soliman. For a fighter like N’Dam who hasn’t quite yet developed the marquee appeal necessary to create buzz sans belt, capturing the hardware will provide him with the bargaining chip he needs to make a true splash in the middleweight division.

“Like I said the last time I talked to you (in April), I wanted (Gabriel) Rosado and then Golovkin,” N’Dam said. “Today, my promoter has been able to give me this opportunity to get back in the world rankings, and it’s a good one.

“And there’s not just Quillin or Golovkin. There’s also (Miguel) Cotto. They know I’m the only one who can cause them problems. If I can get this IBF belt, I’ll have more leverage to negotiate with other champions. I want to fight them all.”

Special thanks to Marco La Via for translating N’Dam’s words from French.

Ryan Maquiñana is the Boxing Insider at Comcast SportsNet Bay Area and the Editor-in-Chief of Norcalboxing.com. He is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow him on Twitter @RMaq28 or email him at rmaquinana@gmail.com .