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Tuesday, November 6, 2007

K-1 World GP 2007 Fighter Profile: Jerome Le Banner

Jerome Le Banner Jerome Le Banner
France / Le Banner Xtream Team
VS Hong Man Choi
Republic of Korea /Freelance
Hong-Man Choi

Full biography can be found here

JEROME LE BANNER
France / Le Banner X tream Team / Kickboxing

COUNTRY : France
DATE OF BIRTH : December 26, 1972
HEIGHT : 6 feet 3 inch
WEIGHT : 267 lbs

TITLES
I.S.K.A. World Superheavyweight Muay-Thai Champion
W.K.N. Muay-Thai Champion
French & European Kickboxing Champion
K-1 GRAND PRIX '95 Finalist
K-1 GRAND PRIX '99 3rd Place
K-1 WORLD GP 2000 in Nagoya , Osaka Champion
K-1 WORLD GP 2002 Finalist

Jérôme Le Banner was born in the French city of Le Havre, in the région of Normandy. Le Banner started training judo at the age of 6. When he was 14, Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury influenced him so much that he started practicing karate instead, while trying to incorporate techniques of Jeet Kune Do he had seen in the film. Jeet Kune Do gave him southpaw stance, which he has maintained throughout his career, even though he is right handed.

At the age of 18, he debuted in his first Full Contact Kickboxing competitions. By 20 he held the ISKA French title and soon after that, he won the European belt against Stéphane Reveillon, and the Intercontinental belt in South Africa against Mike Bernardo.

On March 3, 1995 Jerome Le Banner made his K-1 debut, winning five round decision over Nokveed Devy. Two months later, on May 4, 1995 he made his first K-1 World Grand Prix appearance in Tokyo, Japan, knocking out both Masaaki Satake and Mike Bernardo,

before losing to Peter Aerts in tournament finals.

On December 7, 2002 at K-1 World Grand Prix 2002, after defeating Musashi in the quarterfinals, and Mark Hunt in the semis,



Geronimo faced three time World Champion Ernesto Hoost in tournament finals.

After evenly fought first two rounds, Hoost shattered Le Banner's arm with three roundkicks in the third. Le Banner was able to recover from this near career-ending injury, and returned to fighting six months later in K-1 Paris 2003, winning the fight by punch combinations over Belarusian Vitaly Akhramenko.

In 2006, after his loss against Semmy Schilt at K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 finals, Le Banner announced his retirement from tournament fighting, restricting future appearances to K-1's Superfight events.

In early 2007, after his fight at K-1 World GP 2007 in Yokohama he was forced to have a knee surgery and was not expected to return to the ring until 2008, however due to his fast recovery K-1 announced that Le Banner will participate on September 29, 2007 at the K-1 World GP 2007 in Seoul Final 16 against Russian kickboxer Ruslan Karaev. Just two days before the fight, Karaev had to pull out and was replaced with a former Korean Taekwondo player, Yong Soo Park.

It took Le Banner only 0'54" seconds to knock out Park in the first round by straight punch and qualify himself for K-1 World GP 2007 Finals held in December 4, 2007 at the Tokyo Dome, Japan.

29 Sep. 2007 K-1 WORLD GP 2007 IN SEOUL FINAL16 W YONG SOO PARK 1R KO
04 Mar. 2007 FieLDS K-1 WORLD GP 2007 in YOKOHAMA L JUNICHI SAWAYASHIKI Decision
02 Dec. 2006 K-1 WORLD GP 2006 IN TOKYO L SEMMY SCHILT Decision
30 Sep. 2006 FieLDS K-1 WORLD GP 2006 in OSAKA -FINAL ELIMINATION- W HONG-MAN CHOI Ext.R Decision
30 Sep. 2006 K-1 World GP 2006 IN AMSTERDAM W REMY BONJASKY Decision Super Fight
15 Mar. 2006 HERO'S 2006 W JIMMY AMBRIZ 1R KO MMA
31 Dec. 2005 Premium 2005 Dynamite!! W ALAN KARAEV 2R KO MMA
19 Nov. 2005 K-1 WORLD GP 2005 in TOKYO L PETER AERTS Extra R Decision
23 Sep. 2005 FieLDS K-1 WORLD GP 2005 in OSAKA W GARY GOODRIDGE 1R KO
27 May 2005 K-1 WORLD GP 2005 in Paris W CYRIL ABIDI 4R KO
26 Mar. 2005 HERO'S W YOSHIHIRO AKIYAMA 1R KO MMA
17 Jul. 2004 K-1 WORLD GP 2004 in Seoul W TERRENCE REASBY 1R KO
25 Sep. 2004 K-1 WORLD GP 2004 FINAL ELIMINATION L FRANCOIS "THE WHITE BUFFALO" BOTHA 3R TKO
04 Dec. 2004 WORLD GP 2004 FINAL W HIROMI AMADA 2R KO Super Fight
31 Dec. 2004 Dynamite!! E BOB SAPP Draw
21 Sep. 2003 K-1 SURVIVAL 2003 W SHAKA ZULU 1R KO
14 Jun. 2003 K-1 WORLD GP 2003 in Paris W VITALI AKHRAMENKO 2R KO Super Fight
07 Dec. 2002 K-1 WORLD GP 2002 FINAL W MUSASHI 2R TKO
W MARK HUNT Decision
L ERNESTO HOOST 3R KO
05 Oct. 2002 K-1 WORLD GP 2002 Elimination W GARY GOODRIDGE 1R KO
28 Aug. 2002 Dynamaite! W DON FRYE 1R KO
25 May 2002 K-1 WORLD GP 2002 in Paris W MARK HUNT 2R TKO
03 Mar. 2002 K-1 WORLD GP 2002 in Nagoya W HIROMI AMADA 1R KO
31 Dec. 2001 INOKI-BOM-BA-YE L TADAO YASUDA 2RGuillotine Chalk MMA
08 Dec. 2001 K-1 WORLD GP 2001 FINAL L MARK HUNT 2R KO
19 Aug. 2001 K-1 ANDY MEMORIAL 2001 W MARC DE WIT 2R KO
24 Jun. 2001 K-1 SURVIVAL 2001 W STEFAN "BLITZ" LEKO Decision
29 Apr. 2001 - W PAVEL MAJER 1R KO
W EBENZER FONTES BRAGA 1R KO
W ADAM WATT 1R KO
17 Mar. 2001 K-1 GLADIATORS 2001 - MIKE BERNARDO No Contest
30 Jul. 2000 K-1 WORLD GP2000 in Nagoya W MARK HUNT Decision
W NICHOLAS PETTAS 1R KO
W ERNESTO HOOST 1R TKO

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