Naoufal Benazzouz
Naoufal Benazzouz | |
---|---|
Born |
Naoufal Benazzouz May 25, 1979 Al-Hoceima, Morocco |
Other names | Iron Leg |
Nationality |
Moroccan French |
Height | 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) |
Weight | 111 kg (245 lb; 17.5 st) |
Division | Super Heavyweight |
Style | Kickboxing, Muay Thai |
Team | Siam Gym |
Kickboxing record | |
Total | 36 |
Wins | 30 |
By knockout | 26 |
Losses | 6 |
Naoufal " Iron Leg" Benazzouz (born May 25, 1979) is a French-Moroccan kickboxer training at Siam Gym in Valkenswaard, Netherlands.
Biography and career
The “Iron Leg” was born in Al-Hoceima, Morocco in 1979. In 1988 he started practicing Full-contact Kickboxing at Achbal Rif club in Al-Hoceima. He won his first Moroccan title in 1996. After he got his Baccalaureate degree in Economics, he moved to Tangier to resume his studies.
Naoufal’s first fight outside of Morocco was in Bangkok, Thailand at the Amateur World Muay Thai Championships. He finished fourth place under (86 kg) weight class. He was trained by his father Mohamed Benazouz who was then the Moroccan full-contact national team’s coach.
In 2000, the “Iron Leg” participated in the International Championships of Kickboxing in Czech Republic. He won the world championship title in the weight 91 kg weight class. That was his last participation with the Moroccan national team. After that he moved to France, Italy and finally settled in Netherlands.
His road to fame came at K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Paris. After German fighter Chalid Arrab had to pull out of the tournament due to an injury, Iron Leg stepped in as his last minute replacement. With a wins over Aziz Khattou and Noburu Uchida, he met a future 2005 K-1 World Champion Semmy Schilt in tournament finals. He lost the fight but gained a lot of new fans because of his strong performance throughout the tournament.
He is a professional bodyguard/security.
Titles
- 2006 K-1 World Grand Prix in Amsterdam 3rd place.
- 2005 K-1 World Grand Prix in Paris runner up
- 2002 Full Contact European Kickboxing Champion.
- 1999 Amateur World Muay Thai Championship in Thailand.
- 4 times Moroccan Kickboxing Champion.
See also
- K-1
- Muay thai
- List of K-1 events
- List of male kickboxers
- List of kickboxing organizations