Jean-Marc Mormeck


Jean-Marc Gilbert Mormeck is a French former professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2014. He is a two-time unified world cruiserweight champion, having held the WBA, WBC and The Ring world titles twice between 2005 and 2007. He was the first boxer to hold unified cruiserweight title since Evander Holyfield in 1988, and the first fighter to hold The Ring cruiserweight title since Carlos De León in 1987. Mormeck also challenged for the unified world heavyweight title in 2012. As of April 2020, BoxRec rates him the third greatest cruiserweight of all time.

Early life

Mormeck was born in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe as an only child to Fulbert and Sonia Mormeck. When he was 6, he and his family moved to Paris, France where he still lives. Mormeck engaged himself in football and Muay Thai as an amateur. After watching some boxing matches on television, he became inspired to excel in it.

Professional career

1990–1998: early career

He fought as an amateur in 1990 and turned professional in 1995. Early in his career, Mormeck lost 2 minor four-round bouts on points but kept winning for years afterwards. On 10 November 1998, Mormeck won the French light heavyweight title with a unanimous decision win over Alain Simon. He defended that title three times before relinquishing it.

2002–2006: first world title and unification bouts

Later, Mormeck captured the WBA cruiserweight title by a 9th-round technical knockout win over Virgil Hill on 23 February 2002. Following three defenses with wins over Dale Brown, Alexander Gurov and Virgil Hill again, he added the WBC cruiserweight crown to his collection on 2 April 2005, by way of unanimous decision over Wayne Braithwaite.
However, Mormeck lost his WBA and WBC cruiserweight titles to O'Neil Bell after being knocked out in the 10th round. This bout, on 7 January 2006, was for the undisputed cruiserweight championship.

2007: regaining cruiserweight titles

In their rematch, Mormeck regained the WBA and WBC titles back from Bell by unanimous decision on 17 March 2007.
In the first defense of his second title reign, Mormeck lost his WBA, WBC and lineal cruiserweight titles as he was bested by mandatory challenger and knockout specialist David Haye on 10 November 2007. Mormeck was dropped heavily in the 7th round after being hit by a strong right from Haye. Although Mormeck rose up just in time, the referee realized that he was dazed and in no condition to go on, which caused the contest to be stopped and Haye winning the fight by knockout.

2009–2010: heavyweight

On 17 December 2009, Mormeck made his return to the ring after a two-year layoff, fighting for the first time as a heavyweight, against Vinny Maddalone. He outpointed the veteran heavyweight over 8 rounds.
Mormeck fought Uzbek heavyweight and WBA#7 Timur Ibragimov on 2 December 2010, at Halle Carpentier, Paris.
Mormeck started slowly but dominated the middle rounds to win a split decision.

2012: Mormeck vs. Klitschko

In October 2011, Mormeck was signed to fight unified Heavyweight Champion Wladimir Klitschko on 10 December 2011 at Esprit Arena, Düsseldorf, Germany until Klitschko pulled out after having a kidney stone removed on 2 December 2011. The fight was postponed to 3 March 2012. In this fight, Mormeck attempted to be only the third cruiserweight champion to win a world title at Heavyweight, after Evander Holyfield and David Haye. However, he was defeated by the 4th - round KO.

Trivia

No.ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes
43Loss37–6 Mateusz Masternak106 Dec 2014 Palais des sports Robert Charpentier, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France
42Win37–5 Tamas LodiTKO4 26 Jun 2014 Patinoire d'Asnieres, Asnières-sur-Seine, France
41Loss36–5 Wladimir KlitschkoKO4, 1:123 Mar 2012 Esprit Arena, Düsseldorf, GermanyFor WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO, and The Ring heavyweight titles
40Win36–4 Timur IbragimovSD122 Dec 2010 Halle Georges Carpentier, Paris, FranceWon vacant WBA International heavyweight title
39Win35–4 Fres OquendoUD106 May 2010 Halle Georges Carpentier, Paris, France
38Win34–4 Vinny MaddaloneUD817 Dec 2009 Halle Georges Carpentier, Paris, France
37Loss33–4 David HayeTKO7, 1:5410 Nov 2007 Palais des sports Marcel-Cerdan, Levallois-Perret, FranceLost WBA, WBC, and The Ring cruiserweight titles
36Win33–3 O'Neil BellUD1217 Mar 2007 Palais des sports Marcel-Cerdan, Levallois-Perret, FranceWon WBA, WBC, and The Ring cruiserweight titles
35Win32–3 Sebastian HillTKO4, 2:328 Jul 2006 Savvis Center, St. Louis, Missouri, US
34Loss31–3 O'Neil BellKO10, 2:507 Jan 2006 Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, USLost WBA, WBC, and The Ring cruiserweight titles;
For IBF cruiserweight title
33Win31–2 Wayne BraithwaiteUD122 Apr 2005 DCU Center, Worcester, Massachusetts, USRetained WBA cruiserweight title;
Won WBC and vacant The Ring cruiserweight titles
32Win30–2 Virgil HillUD1222 May 2004 Carnival City, Brakpan, South AfricaRetained WBA cruiserweight title
31Win29–2 Alexander GurovTKO8, 0:321 Mar 2003 Thomas & Mack Center, Paradise, Nevada, USRetained WBA cruiserweight title
30Win28–2 Dale BrownTKO8 10 Aug 2002 Plages du Prado, Marseille, FranceRetained WBA cruiserweight title
29Win27–2 Virgil Hill9, 0:0123 Feb 2002 Palais des Sports, Marseille, FranceWon WBA cruiserweight title
28Win26–2 Franklin EdmondsonPTS88 Oct 2001 Palais des Sports, Paris, France
27Win25–2 Vinson DurhamTKO2 4 Aug 2001 Plages du Prado, Marseille, France
26Win24–2 Antonio Fernando Caldas Jr.TKO3 14 May 2001 Palais des Sports, Paris, France
25Win23–2 Valeriy VykhorTKO3 3 Apr 2001 Salle Bellevue, Fréjus, France
24Win22–2 Juan Carlos ViloriaTKO10 29 Jan 2001 Palais des Sports, Paris, FranceRetained WBA Inter-Continental light-heavyweight title
23Win21–2 Livin CastilloTKO3, 2:3616 Dec 2000 Forum Bicentenario, Maracay, VenezuelaWon vacant WBA Inter-Continental light-heavyweight title
22Win20–2 Jerry WilliamsTKO6 3 Oct 2000 Ice Hall, Helsinki, Finland
21Win19–2 Antonio Pedro QuigangaTKO2 16 Sep 2000 Châteauroux, France
20Win18–2 Kostyantyn OkhreyTKO3 16 May 2000 Boulogne-sur-Mer, France
19Win17–2 Tim HillieKO4 25 Apr 2000 Saint-Quentin, France
18Win16–2 Jerry Williams7 7 Mar 2000 Dijon, France
17Win15–2 Rob BleakleyTKO4 15 Feb 2000 Palais des Sports, Épinal, France
16Win14–2 Bruce RumbolzTKO4 7 Dec 1999 Saint-Vallier, France
15Win13–2 Pascal Warusfel1026 Oct 1999 Guilherand-Granges, FranceRetained France light-heavyweight title
14Win12–2 Ganguina LarmePTS1018 May 1999 Noisy-le-Grand, FranceRetained France light-heavyweight title
13Win11–2 Joe StevensonTKO2 2 Feb 1999 Pont-Sainte-Maxence, France
12Win10–2 Alain Simon1010 Nov 1998 Pont-Sainte-Maxence, FranceWon France light-heavyweight title
11Win9–2 Konstantin SemerdjievTKO5 13 Oct 1998 Guilherand-Granges, France
10Win8–2 Kamel AmranePTS823 May 1998 Noisy-le-Grand, France
9Win7–2 Turan BagciPTS820 Jan 1998 Levallois-Perret, France
8Win6–2 Kalin StoyanovTKO7 20 Dec 1997 Bobigny, France
7Win5–2 Juan NelongoTKO3 5 Nov 1997 Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
6Win4–2 Harri HakulinenPTS624 Jun 1997 Pont-Audemer, France
5Loss3–2 Dominique MansarePTS613 Jun 1997 Clermont-Ferrand, France
4Loss3–1 Lee Manuel OssiePTS422 May 1997 Los Cristianos, Spain
3Win3–0 Thierry Vuillemin68 Mar 1997 Noisy-le-Grand, France
2Win2–0 Frederic GoutalTKO4 19 May 1995 Saint-Lô, France
1Win1–0 Pierrick Trideau1 25 Mar 1995 Noisy-le-Grand, FranceProfessional debut