Brice Guidon

For many years the first name that came to mind when French kickboxing was mentioned was the living legend Jerome Le Banner. But now there is a new heavyweight prospect carrying the tricolour into battle - the 26 year old Brice Guidon, known to his countrymen as ‘Nectar’ because of his ‘sweet style’ in the ring. In fact, Guidon trained with Le Banner for a time and was a member of the Le Banner Xtreme Team before branching out further afield with training at Amsterdam’s iconic Meijiro Gym. Now Guidon has his own team, Nectar Boxing Camp, although he conducts training for his big bouts under Meijiro’s veteran trainer Andre Mannaart. Guidon had his first professional fight at age 21 but even before then he was marking himself out as a future contender. In 2002 he won the French Cadet Championship and a year later he won the Junior French Championship at 91 kilos. Since turning professional he has steadily bulked up and now regularly hits the scales at over 100 kilos. He turned professional in 2005 and a year later he was fighting in a K-1 event taking place in his native France. Every year since then he achieved something new - in 2010, he won the both the W.P.M.F. World Super Heavyweight Muay Thai title and the W.P.M.F. European Heavyweight Muay Thai title, a significant achievement. That earned him a call from GLORY and in 2011 he was the runner-up in the 2011 United Glory World Series, losing to the stand-out prospect Gokhan Saki. The loss did not discourage him - after all, he had beaten such names as the powerful Mourad Bouzidi on his way through he tournament - and early in 2012 he captured a minor world title at super-heavyweight. But that was a mere starter for 2012’s main course - entering the GLORY heavyweight division. His old friend Gokhan Saki awaits him, as does another previous conqueror, Semmy Schilt.