 On 26 July 2003, in his first defence of the title, Bami was knocked out by South African Samuel Malinga, who had previously defeated Colin Lynes.Following the defeat to Malinga, Bami spent the next couple of years fighting mid-level European opposition.During this period his biggest wins were over Hungarian Jozsef Matolcsi, Russian Viktor Baranov and Poland's Rafal Jackiewicz.