Jacobin Yoma (born 6 October 1966) is a French Guianan former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

who competed from 1989 to 1999, and held the European

super-featherweight Super featherweight, also known as junior lightweight, is a boxing weight classes, weight division in professional boxing, contested between and . The super featherweight division was established by the New York Walker Law in 1920, although firs ...

title from 1993 to 1995. He was nicknamed ''l'Ouragan de Cayenne'' (The Cayenne Hurricane) for the impressive speed of his hands.

Early life

Yoma was born on 6 October 1966 in

Maripasoula Maripasoula, previously named Upper Maroni, is a commune of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America. With a land area of , Maripasoula is the largest commune of France. Geography The Lawa and Maron ...

, French Guiana, as a member of the

Aluku The Aluku are a Bushinengue ethnic group living mainly on the riverbank in Maripasoula in southwest French Guiana. The group are sometimes called Boni, referring to the 18th-century leader, Bokilifu Boni. History The Aluku are an ethnic gro ...

tribe, but settled in the capital city of Cayenne at a young age. At the age of 13 he was diagnosed with a heart murmur and began boxing when he was advised to pick up a sport. He became French amateur champion in 1989 under coach Jacques Chinon and decided to go pro later that year.

Professional career

Yoma made his professional debut on 6 October 1989, defeating

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian opponent Geraldo Leite by points in Cayenne. In his fifth bout, he traveled to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and fought Regilio Tuur to a

majority draw A majority draw is an outcome in several full-contact combat sports, including boxing, mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referre ...

– the first blemish on his record and the first matchup in their trilogy. In the next year, he picked up both the French and WBC FECARBOX

titles as he continued to rack up wins. On 14 June 1991 he faced a 37-year-old Daniel Londas for his European super-featherweight title in Reims, and suffered his first career defeat by decisive

unanimous decision A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighte ...

(UD). Yoma again captured the French and FECARBOX titles before he received another shot at the European crown in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

on 3 December 1992, falling to Regilio Tuur by way of points in front of a crowd of 7,000 that included

John de Wolf Johannes Hildebrand de Wolf (born 10 December 1962) is a Dutch former professional footballer, who played as a defender. He earned six caps for the Dutch national team, scoring two goals. Career Club De Wolf was born in Schiedam. He began ...

and

Jules Deelder Jules Anton Deelder (24 November 1944 – 19 December 2019) was a Dutch poet, spoken word poet and writer. His poems cover topics such as life in the city of Rotterdam, drug use, and jazz. He was very passionate about the Dutch language and fear ...

. Four months later he lost a decision to Guyanese prospect

Joseph Murray Joseph Edward Murray (April 1, 1919 – November 26, 2012) was an American plastic surgeon who performed the first successful human kidney transplant on identical twins Richard and Ronald Herrick on December 23, 1954. Murray shared the ...

in Georgetown for the vacant FECARBOX title – his third defeat. He finally defeated Tuur on 11 June 1993 by split decision in his hometown of Cayenne to become European super-featherweight champion. Over the next two years he successfully defended the European belt on four occasions, with the first three taking place in the hot humidity of Cayenne. His last successful defense was a UD victory over former world champion

Jimmi Bredahl Jimmi Bredahl Johansen (born 26 August 1967), known professionally as Jimmi Bredahl or Jimmy Bredahl, is a Danish former professional boxer. Bredahl is the former WBO world super featherweight champion and the older brother of fellow boxer Joh ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

on 7 October 1994. He lost the title on 4 July 1995, suffering a UD defeat in the

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

suburb of

Thiais Thiais () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. The name Thiais comes from Medieval Latin ''Theodasium'' or ''Theodaxium'', meaning "estate of Theodasius", a Gallo-Roman landowner. The A ...

to Russian future world champion Anatoly Alexandrov. Yoma captured the French title once more the following year before retiring in 1999 with a record of 40–11–3.

Professional boxing record

Personal life

Yoma is a member of the

tribe, descendants of the Maroon slaves who fled from the plantations of Dutch Guiana in the eighteenth century. In 2009, he was handed a six-month suspended prison sentence in a Cayenne courtroom for driving under the influence and causing an accident that injured several people. In 2015 the Salle de Boxe Jacques Chinon et Jacobin Yoma, named after Yoma and his former coach, was inaugurated in Cayenne.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yoma, Jacobin Living people 1966 births Aluku French Guianan male boxers French male boxers People from Maripasoula Super-featherweight boxers European Boxing Union champions Black French sportspeople Sportspeople from Cayenne