By Mike Nosky 

On Friday night, in the main event of ESPN2’s ‘Friday Night Fights’, boxing fans get a chance to watch the continued growth of one of the most underrated boxers in the world in front of probably the fastest growing boxing hotbed in the world.

Hermann “The Black Panther” Ngoudjo will take on former WBA super lightweight titlist Souleymane M’baye with a shot at current IBF belt holder Paulie Malignaggi on the line. Even more importantly, with a win on Friday night, Ngoudjo moves closer to becoming Cameroon’s first even world titlist in professional boxing. The card will take place at Uniprix Stadium in boxing crazed Montreal.

Ngoudjo (16-2, 9KOs) was just fifteen fights into his professional career last January when he took a major step in class and challenged former world champion Jose Luis Castillo on HBO. Although Ngoudjo dropped a hard fought split decision (115-113, 113-115, 113-115) to Castillo, he showed that he belonged with the division’s elite fighters.

He followed that fight up five months later when he took on another former world titlist, the hard-hitting Randall Bailey on ESPN2. Although some felt that Bailey should have earned the decision, this time it was Ngoudjo who scored the split decision win (115-112, 114-112, 112-115) and he was also awarded a mandatory shot at Malignaggi’s IBF title.

Less than a year after he burst into boxing’s big time with his fight against Castillo, Ngoudjo found himself across the ring from Malignaggi this past January in his first world title fight. Coming in as the decided underdog, Ngoudjo took the fight to Malignaggi and landed more against the flashy New Yorker than any other fighter not named Miguel Cotto.

However, the judges didn’t see it for Ngoudjo and for the second time in less than twelve months, the 28-year-old former Cameroonian Olympian, lost a questionable decision to a much more popular foe (117-111, 116-113, 115-113).

There haven’t been many easy fights along the way for the fighter who now calls Montreal his home. He has been moved aggressively and, so far, he has shown that he belongs with the best the super lightweights have to offer.

“Since his 9th fight, Hermann has fought against the elite in the division,” Yvon Michel, President of GYM (Ngoudjo’s promoter) told me on Monday. “He was ranked #9 in the WBC after his eleventh fight. No fighter in Canada got that kind of opposition that early in his career.

“In a span of one year, he fought Jose Luis Castillo, the best fighter in the division, Randall Bailey, the best puncher, and Paul Malignaggi, the fastest boxer. Each time out Hermann, despite his lack of ring maturity and experience was able to adapt. He fought the fighter, he outpunched the puncher and he outsped the speedster.

“Now again on Friday, he has a big task. Against M’baye, he is fighting against the most skillful of the division. Hermann has seen it all and there is no question in his mind or mine that he is the most overall complete fighter in the division and his time has come!”

Years ago, Michel ran Interbox and brought the Canadian company to extreme heights in boxing and is one of the main reasons why boxing has found this recent surge in Montreal.

He has always been a very aggressive promoter of his fighters. Did he give any thoughts to pulling back on the reigns a little with Ngoudjo and maybe tossing the kid a confidence building win before taking another high-profiled bout against someone like M’baye (36-2-1, 21KOs).

“The two losses could have been wins easily but they did not discourage him at all. What those fights did was make him hungrier than even and much more confident that he can beat any fighter in the world. He is a family man and his only two priorities in life are his family and his training.”

Even though the winner of Ngoudjo-M’baye becomes the mandatory challenger for Malignaggi’s IBF title, Malignaggi is headed to a Fall showdown with current world super lightweight champion Ricky Hatton. Has Michel or Ngoudjo given any thought to that and how Hatton-Malignaggi affects the winner on Friday night?

“Right now, Hermann is just focusing on Friday but the rules of the IBF are that you have to fight your mandatory challenger every nine months. October 20th is the date for Malignaggi’s next mandatory defense,” Michel explained. “So to make Malignaggi-Hatton, they will have to address the situation.”