French Kicks
Kick-Boxing in France is
big business. In a nation more associated with good food and rich living,
the highly disciplined demands of the martial arts have never been so
popular. To follow is a profile of two of the main players instrumental
in the sports growth. First, there's Stephane Carbrera, himself once a kick-boxer of huge potential and ability. When injury cut short a glittering career, he became first a coach then a promoter. He is now one of the biggest promoters on mainland Europe. His events attract the sort of national media attention that this country reserves for conventional boxing. And his stable of fighters - based in Nimes - has grown into one of the most feared in the world.
Stephane Reveillon is one of those fighters. In fact Stephane Reveillon is perhaps the best of those fighters. The huge super heavy weight has fought, and won, in the backyard of the sport's birthplace on the prestigious K1 ticket in Japan. Although not on the bill tonight, his influence on those rising French stars able to make the journey to Northern Ireland - like "Iron Man" Thierry Violote, Mohamed Samir and 'YOUNG DYNAMITE' Jean Luc Paines - is immense. During a summer when the world's eyes are turned toward France for another reason, Kick-boxing Mania warmly welcomes the Gauls and says - Vive la France!
Stephane Carbrerra - The French Connection
He
is credited with being the biggest and most important kickboxing promoter
in France. Some have even claimed he is the most important in mainland
Europe. Yet Stephane Carbrerra is keen to play down the rumours. "Bah,"
declaims the Frenchman with that insouciance the French do so well, "I
just like to put on the shows, you know. I like a spectacle." Stephane has been at the forefront of promotion since injury put the brakes on a promising kickboxing career six years ago. "I liked to train too hard," he laughs, "I injured my ankles, my knee, had my cheek-bone broken, damaged my thigh and smashed my hand - all in training." And it is his hand that shows the biggest scar. A badly broken left knuckle is curiously - and by the look of it, painfully - indented. Stephane was twenty three when he was forced to retire. Rather than give up he side-stepped immediately into coaching. He now runs a gym in his native Nimes. He looks after at least 120 fighters - 25 of whom are professional. They feature strongly on any show he promotes. "I put on between 10 and 20 big shows in France a year. They were all sanctioned by ISKA and all included bouts for either World or European titles." Most of the shows are in the South of France. There was a huge event in Montpellier just before Christmas. Stephane now heads the high profile World Kickboxing Network.
However, when he tires of slumming it in such exotic surroundings, Stephane packs up and takes his bag of tricks to... the Caribbean. Rotten job, eh? "I've had shows in St. Lucia, Guadeloupe and Martinique. There will another in St. Martin in a couple of months. And the quality of fighters and crowd reaction out there is unbelievable. You can get 2, 000 people at one of those shows." Does a problem not arise with freeloaders? Do some fighters - and remember many of them are still amateur - not just fancy a holiday? He is emphatic in his reply. "Not at all. When you have trained as hard as they do and become as focused as they are nothing is as important as the fight. It is the same anywhere. I've taken fighters to Poland, Russia and Brazil and it always the same. "And what of the fight game in France, is it in a healthy state? "Oh yes. The popularity is ever increasing. Under the umbrella of WKN we have the best fighters, the most events. Journalists follow WKN promotions. National French TV is now on board for the first time."
Stephane
finds it easy to explain why. "Kickboxing is a sport of the future. Unlike
at traditional boxing bouts, we have many young people in the crowd -
and many girls. Kickboxing is more attractive to watch. The popularity
of kickboxing video games and Jean Claude Van Damme also helps immensely."
But the Hollywood portrayal of the sport seems imbedded in the notion
of aggression, when martial arts are all about self control and defence.
Time will tell if this means of promoting the sort proves healthy. Others
are keen to pay tribute to what Stephane has done. "His shows are more than about several rounds of Kickboxing," says Billy Murray, "They are really big events. With the music, the lights the drama of the thing, you come away from one of Stephane's shows and know you have had your money's worth." In the meantime, Stephane sees a bright future for the game. "Kickboxing is growing at an incredible rate world-wide. It is not impossible that it will become an Olympic sport." And why not? After all it worked for synchronised swimming.
Stephane Reveillon
Perhaps it's something about Belfast.
Stephane Revilon is the second kickboxer in as many months who has travelled
to train at the ProKick gym. And like Duncan Earlie James before him,
the Frenchman is considering retirement. "I'm 32 and I hold four world
titles. I've had 88 fights. I'm off to fight in the K1 in Japan. It's
a good way to bow out." With such an impressive fight record, an impressive
list of training camps and a bigger budget than many kickboxers, you may
be led to wonder why he travelled to draughty little Belfast in the first
place.
"To fight in such hard fights you have
to train with hard men. I need to be challenged continually and here in
Belfast I can train and spar with Billy Murray. And I like the hospitality
of the place." Testament to the hardness - or perhaps hospitality - is
a reddening bruise above Murray's left eye. Billy Murray - three times
world champion - is no slouch. And that happened during a friendly training
session. It is a measure of just how focused Revillion actually is.
He likes to train. He starts a morning with a 40 minute run. Then there's
ten rounds of sparring, some workout with the heavy bags and another four
hours involving more exercise than the average journalist has probably
carried out in his entire life. And he does this six days a week. Every
week.
Does he never get bored? "I enjoy boxing and I love the travelling that
comes with it. It's what I do. It has also set me up for a future career.
"When I retire I hope to open a security agancy in the south of France.
The respect I've gained through boxing, the contacts I've made, have been
really helpful."
As that retirement day looms larger - and the purses bigger - are there
any last fights he'd like to have? The Frenchman or rather the French-Man
mountain (nudging at least 6'4'' the super heavyweight (102kg) tends to
dominate any room he enters) smiles a wry smile. "I fought, and lost to,
Dennis Alexio in May 1996. It was one of the hardest fights of my life.
He broke two of my ribs with a back-kick. I'd love a re-match. "I'd also
like to fight Peter Hertz - he has a good heart, great stamina - it would
be a good fight." All these bouts would be K1 challenges. Revillion does
not like to take things easy. "I leave for Japan in two weeks to fight
Jean Claude Levier. After that, I think I'll return to Belfast to train
again. I like it here." As I leave Revillion and Murray are discussing
whether or not to take to the bags again in order to wind down. It really
must be something about Belfast.