Jérôme Le Banner

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Jérôme Le Banner

Statistics
Real name Jérôme Le Banner
Nickname Hyper Battle Cyborg, Geronimo
Weight Super Heavyweight
Nationality France French
Birth date December 26, 1972
Birth place Le Havre, France
Style Kickboxing
Boxing record
Total fights 62
Wins 49
Wins by KO 39
Losses 10
Draws 2
No contests 1

Jérôme Le Banner (born December 26, 1972 in Le Havre, France[1]) is a French kickboxer and is famous for his bouts in the Japanese kickboxing organization K-1. Le Banner is known for his tremendously aggressive fighting style and his many knockout wins and losses. He is nicknamed both the "Hyper Battle Cyborg" and "Geronimo", and is associated with the Boerboel & Tosa Gym [citation needed]. He has his own fighting team, the Le Banner Xtream Team [2].

Contents

[edit] Biography

Jérôme Le Banner was born Christmas Day 1972 in the French city of Le Havre, in the province of Normandy, approximately 2 hours west of Paris. Le Banner started training in judo at the age of 6, although disagreements led to his discontinuing this sport. At the age of 14 Le Banner became an admirer of Bruce Lee after watching his film Fist of Fury. This led him to take up karate, while trying to incorporate techniques of Jeet Kune Do which he had seen in the film [1].

Le Banner's training in Jeet Kune Do gave him his southpaw stance, which he has maintained, even though he is right handed. Le Banner has the ability both left and right guards, as in traditional Thai fighting styles where fighters can switch stances even though they favour one side over the other; this allows him to confuse opponents in matches.

Le Banner eventually joined Full Contact boxing competitions, and at the age of 18 he debuted in his first fight in this style. By 20 he held the French title (ISKA federation). Soon after he won the European belt against Stéphane Reveillon, and then the Intercontinental belt in South Africa against Mike Bernardo.

By 1995 Le Banner was asked to join K-1 making an impressive debut [1], knocking out both Masaaki Satake and Mike Bernardo. Le Banner has become one of K-1's biggest stars, defeating some of the highest profile opponents, and is especially popular in Japan. He got to the final match of the 2002 K-1 Grand Prix, after defeating Musashi in the quarterfinal, and Mark Hunt in the semifinal. Le Banner faced Ernesto Hoost in a close competition which Hoost won after managing to shatter Le Banner's arm with 3 mid-kicks. Le Banner successfully recovered from his injuries, and as of 2006 is still fighting professionally in K-1.

Le Banner has a daughter named Victoria [1].

[edit] Record

  • Professional kickboxing: 62 Fights, 49 Wins, 39 KOs, 10 Losses, 2 Draws, 1 No Contest
  • K-1: 57 Fights, 42 Wins, 31 KOs, 12 Losses, 2 Draws
  • Professional Boxing: 4 Fights, 4 Wins, 3 KOs
  • MMA: 4 Fights, 3 Wins, 1 Loss

[edit] Career

  • French & European Kickboxing Champion
  • I.S.K.A. World Superheavyweight Thaiboxing Champion
  • W.K.N. World Thai-boxing Superheavyweight Champion
  • K-1 Grand Prix '99 3rd Place
  • K-1 Grand Prix '95 Finalist
  • K-1 World Grand Prix 2000 (Nagoya) Champion
  • K-1 World Grand Prix 2002 Finalist

[edit] Mixed martial arts record

3 Wins (3 KOs), 1 Loss (1 submission), 1 Draw.
Date Result Opponent Event Method Round Time
3/15/2006 Win Jimmy Ambriz K-1-Hero's 4 KO (punch) 1 2:04
12/31/2005 Win Alan Karaev K-1-Premium 2005 Dynamite KO 2 1:14
3/26/2005 Win Yoshihiro Akiyama K-1-Hero's 1 KO (knees) 1 2:24
12/31/2004 Draw Bob Sapp K-1-Premium 2004 Dynamite Draw 4 3:00
12/31/2001 Loss Tadao Yasuda Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2001 K-1 vs. Inoki Submission (Forearm Choke) 2 2:50

[edit] Professional Boxing Record

4 Wins (3 (T)KOs).
Date Result Opponent Method Round
11/14/1998 Win Ferenc Deák DQ 2
6/20/1998 Win James Henderson KO 4
11/14/1998 Win Jerry Reynolds TKO 1
2/24/1998 Win Tudor Panait TKO 4

[edit] Trivia

Manager: Olivier Muller. Commercial Agent: Alan Kermorvan - alkermor@msn.com (ex-male nurse and proven bucket carrier)

Manager: Olivier Muller. Commercial Agent: Alan Kermorvan - alkermor@msn.com

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Jérôme Le Banner official biography. Jérôme Le Banner. Retrieved on 2006-07-19.
  2. ^ K-1 Official Profile. K-1. Retrieved on 2006-07-19.

[edit] External links

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