Biography

Hailing from Lyon, France, Karim Bennoui was born on January 26th, 1988. He is the older brother of Houcine Bennoui, who like Karim is an active fighter internationally. He comes from an ethnically Algerian family and trains at Gym boxing St Fons in Lyon, Saint Fons. He is trained by Nasser Kacem who also trains Yohan Lidon, Fabio Pinca and of course his younger brother Karim. He began training regularly at the age of 10 and is currently still active as a fighter. He is known as “The Chirugien” or “The Surgeon” because of his accuracy with his attacks. 

Fight Career

Karim is an accomplished fighter in the super lightweight diviions of 61 kg or 134.5lbs. He has a successful record of 51 fights with 37 wins, 11 losses and 3 draws.

He gained national recognition in 2009 when he beat out Nehemie Felicite at La Nuit de la Boxe in Martinique. He thrashed his opponent and Felicite’s corner threw in the towel which won him the French Championship FDMB in the A class at 60kgs.

He He would again battle for a belt in 2010 although this time he took a decision loss to Mickael Peynaud at Explosion Fight Night. The bout was to determine the French Championship k1 Pro title.

Karim was able to secure the Showtime 61Max battle after a 5 round decision battle against the very skilled Sergio Wielzen but lost it three months later in a battle against Javier Hernandex at a It’s Showtime event in Madrid Spain.

He battled against Thai fighter Pajonsuk Por Pramuk, who trained out of the legendary Buakaw Banchamek’s former gym, Por Pramuk. Karim went home with a draw after five rounds at the Yokkao event in Milan Italy.

In late 2012 he took the WKN World Orient Rules Title from Thomas Adarnadopoulous at a Nuit des Champions show in Marsaille France after a five round decision bout.

He subsequently beat out Yetkin Oxkul, who Rungravee Sasiprapra also battled against in Mareille as well. The bested Ozkul on a La Nuit des Champions show.

In the last few years he has rematched and won against Javier Harnandez and picked up a win and then a loss against Japanese fighter Koya Urabe. He also took on #1 ranked fighter Darren Connor on YOKKAO 12 in Bolton in 2015. It was his second appearance on the YOKKAO promotion. His third appearance for YOKKAO was at YOKKAO 15 also in Bolton. He fought Chrisopher Shaw from England at 61.5 kg. Karim dropped a points decision to the Englishmen.

Karim is not very active on the international scene and only fights between 2-4 times a year. This is in comparison to many Thai fighters that will fight every 3-6 weeks. 

Are you are interested in hosting a seminar with Karim Bennoui or inviting him to fight on your show?