Ted  Bami

Light-Welterweight

A HIGHLY competent light-welterweight, Bami first joined the Matchroom stable of fighters in October 2002.

His trainer James Cook had great faith in his fighter and convinced promoters that in the not too distant future he would be World Champion.

A barber by trade, Congolese-born Bami was a useful junior and reached the London ABA senior final in 1998. He has lived in Britain since he was 12, having been sent here to avoid the civil war in Zaire at that time and was raised by his uncle who first introduced him to boxing at 15.

Physically compact and superbly cut, Bami is a skilful fighter who has not let us down. After gaining a points decision over Russian Sergey Starkov in December 2002 he went on and stopped Andrey Devyatakin in a first round knockout at London’s York Hall.

Bami returned to this venue in April 2003 to fight Hungarian Laszlo Herczeg for the vacant WBF Light Welterweight Championship. Laszlo proved he could handle himself but Bami was strong and solid and delivered a ferocious left hook that stopped Herczeg in the ninth. The referee ended the fight to the delight of the crowd, which included many Congolese expatriates.

Bami’s first defence of the title was against South African “Prospect of the Year” Samuel Malinga, who had previously dethroned Colin Lynes of his IBO Inter-Continental title. Unfortunately Bami’s ambitions were cut short as he lost the title in an impressive third round stoppage.

Bami fought with his hands too low and without paying sufficient attention to defence and Malinga, who seemed nervous in the first round, settled down and put him away with a thudding right hand to the jaw in round three.

Despite the defeat, Bami was soon back in the ring after his loss and beat Hungarian Zoltan Surman in a three-round cut eye stoppage before he started 2004 with a comfortable points victory over another Hungarian, Jozsef Matolcsi.

Bami defeated experienced Russian Viktor Baranov in the second round before facing another tough fight, this time with Rafal Jackiewicz of Poland.

The Pole looked dangerous in the early rounds and had Bami in trouble in the third but Bami’s excellent fitness saw him win on points as he celebrated with his trademark somersault.

In February 2005 Bami impressively KO’d Argentine Ricardo Silva in the second round and then followed that up with victories against Nigerian Silence Saheed and Polish fighter Maurycy Gojko.

Click here to view Ted's professional record.