MONTREAL - With his left eye swollen shut and facing one of the best light welterweights in the world, Herman Ngoudjo had every reason to give up.
Instead, the Montreal-based fighter gutted his way through a very close fight to earn himself a second shot at the International Boxing Federation light welterweight belt with a victory by unanimous decision over Souleymane Mbaye on Friday night at Uniprix Stadium.
Ngoudjo (17-2-0, nine KOs) said he was hit in the left eye by Mbaye's (36-3-1, 25 KOs) thumb in the second round, which forced him to change his strategy as the eye quickly swelled shut and limited his vision.
''That didn't help, but I told myself I couldn't give up, I showed a lot of courage,'' the Cameroon-born fighter said. ''Despite my inexperience, I showed I can compete with the best in the world.''
The winner was guaranteed the right to face IBF light welterweight champ Paulie Malignaggi of Brooklyn by this October, and it will ultimately be Ngoudjo who gets a chance to avenge his loss by unanimous decision to Malignaggi in Atlantic City last January.
Ngoudjo's promoter Yvon Michel said it would be very difficult economically to stage the re-match in Montreal, and that he expects a long negotiation period ahead as Malignaggi eyes a potential fight with England's Ricky Hatton that would be more lucrative than another match-up with Ngoudjo.
But Michel feels his fighter is ready to take the next step to the big time.
''Even if every round was very close, the majority of them were won by Herman,'' Michel said. ''The way Herman was able to adjust to the conditions yet again, it proved that we've only seen the tip of the iceberg with him.'' American judge Bernard Bruni scored the fight 117-111, while Quebec's Pasquale Procopio had it 116-112 and Quebec's Benoit Roussel scored it 115-113 in favour of Ngoudjo. The Canadian Press scored the fight 115-113 in favour of Mbaye.
Mbaye was able to establish his jab early in the fight while Ngoudjo was looking more to land body shots inside, almost completely abandoning the jab in an effort to crowd the powerful French fighter.
Mbaye hurt Ngoudjo in the second round with a shot to the left eye that got progressively worse as the night wore on. It was nearly completely swollen shut by the fourth round and that's when Mbaye was able to open up a cut on the eyelid, forcing referee Marlon Wright to ask the ringside doctor to look at it before the start of the fifth.
''What impressed me most about Herman was that between rounds, he never panicked,'' said Ngoudjo's trainer, Howard Grant. ''His eye was almost completely shut and it was a blessing in disguise that he got cut in the fourth round because the bleeding allowed his eye to open up a bit.''
Ngoudjo upped his aggressiveness in the fifth round and started landing more of his wild combinations from close quarters. Though his left eye was completely shut and bleeding by the sixth, Ngoudjo remained the aggressor until the tide appeared to turn in the ninth round when Mbaye began neutralizing more of his attacks.
''The other guy didn't really take advantage of that,'' Grant said of the swollen eye. ''Herman fought 10 rounds with one eye, he stole some rounds and he showed a lot of guts.''
The 12th and final round saw both fighters go for everything, as neither was clearly sure who was ahead in the fight. Ngoudjo won the round with a series of effective combinations, but ultimately it appeared he had the fight won before the round even began.
Michel said the fight statistics showed that Ngoudjo threw about 150 more punches than Mbaye and landed about 100 more.
The main undercard on the night was a victory by unanimous decision for middleweight Sebastien Demers (25-1, nine KOs) of St-Hyacinthe, Que., over Sam (The Punching Policeman) Hill (17-8-1, 10 KOs) of the United States.
Hill, despite his nickname, didn't do a lot of punching as he spent the bulk of the fight on the ropes or in the corner covering up as Demers threw flurry after flurry of punches.
Hill repeatedly taunted Demers to hit him harder, but while Demers wasn't able to land any major shots he was clearly the aggressor and hit Hill often enough to sway the judges. It was Hill's first fight since November of 2006, but despite the long layoff Demers was unable to significantly hurt his opponent.
The judges - all from Montreal - scored the fight 80-72, 80-71 and 80-70 in favour of Demers. The Canadian Press scored it 80-72.
France's Ali Chebah (26-0-0, 20 KOs) spent the better part of five rounds destroying last-minute replacement Jorge Luis Lopez (12-24-0, 10 KOs) before the ringside doctor put an end to the fight. Lopez replaced Joilson Morais Da Silva of Brazil who had visa problems and was unable to enter Canada.
Chebah, the WBC youth light welterweight title holder, is considering moving to Montreal to continue his career.
Montreal light middleweight David Lemieux (8-0-0, eight KOs) made quick work of Mexico's Julio Gonzalez (7-5-0, five KOs), scoring a TKO at 2:28 of the second round after landing a series of vicious body shots.
In a fight for the vacant Canadian welterweight title, Montreal's Manolis Plaitis (12-0-0, seven KOs) won a unanimous decision over fellow Montrealer Bakary Sako (7-6-3, one KO).
In the evening's first bout, American Chris Archer (9-4-0, five KOs) did not come out for the fifth round in his bout with Nicholson Poulard (10-2-0, five KOs) of Laval, Que.