Jérôme Le Banner
The uncrowned king with the golden left hand
- Born
- December 26, 1972, Le Havre, France
- Nationality
France- Height
- 191 cm (6′3″)
- Reach
- 201 cm (6′7″)
- Stance
- Southpaw
- Style
- Southpaw power puncher
- Weight
- Heavyweight
- Active
- 1992–2024
- Status
- Retired · age 53
The record
Kickboxing, Wikipedia infobox (113 bouts). Also 6-0 in boxing (5 KO) and 6-3 in MMA. The partial database at muaythairecords.com covers only part of his career (11-14).
The story
érôme Le Banner, from Le Havre, fought for more than three decades and became a fixture of Japanese kickboxing without ever winning the K-1 World Grand Prix. That near miss is behind his nickname The Uncrowned King: he lost the 1995 final to Peter Aerts and the 2002 final to Ernesto Hoost. A southpaw with a heavy left hand, he scored 71 knockouts in kickboxing, including first-round stoppages of Aerts in 1999 and Francisco Filho in 2000. He also won regional K-1 tournaments in Nagoya and Osaka, world titles under ISKA and WKN rules, and all six of his professional boxing fights. He retired in October 2024, at 51, after a first-round knockout loss to K-Jee.
Tap a technique with an arrow to learn how it works.
- K-1 World Grand Prix runner-up (1995, 2002)
- K-1 World GP 2000 in Nagoya champion
- K-1 World GP 2001 in Osaka champion
- ISKA Muay Thai world super heavyweight champion (1996, 2015)
- WKN kickboxing world super heavyweight champion (2012)
- Pantheon of Sports and Martial Arts Hall of Fame, Tokyo (2009)
- K-1 World GP 2007 Final MVP
Defining fights
- 1995LOSSvs Peter Aerts (KO 1, body shot, K-1 Grand Prix final)
- 1999WINvs Peter Aerts (KO 1, left hook)
- 2000WINvs Francisco Filho (KO 1, left straight)
- 2002WINvs Mark Hunt (TKO 2, corner stoppage)
- 2002LOSSvs Ernesto Hoost (KO 3, K-1 World GP final)
For southpaws facing an orthodox fighter: keep your lead foot outside theirs and fire the straight left down the middle as they reach with the jab, Le Banner's go-to weapon.
1997–2009
1976–1995
