Cyril Benzaquen's Brief Boxing Career

Cyril Benzaquen medaled at prestigious amateur Muay Thai championships. He's a world champion kickboxer, who has been rated in the top ten in the world across different promotions. A model, speaker, promoter, and entrepreneur, Benzaquen has done just about everything. He even dabbled in professional boxing.

Of Moroccan heritage, the 36-year-old Benzaquen was born in France. He started kickboxing at the age of 13. After a successful amateur career in both kickboxing and Muay Thai, he turned pro in 2010. Benzaquen, who has two Master's degrees, won the ISKA light heavyweight title in 2015.

Cyril, who was trained by the legendary André Zeitoun, is known for his technical skills. "He was a really serious man in the gym," Zeitoun said of his former student. "He has good hands and very good low kicks," he told The Jewish Boxing Blog.

In 2018, Benzaquen decided to see what those good hands could do. On May 25, he debuted as a professional boxer. He dropped a four-rounder to the more experienced Matthieu Bernardet, three rounds to one. Less than a month later, Benzaquen swept the cards against Jeffe Florentz. On February 9 the following year, Benzaquen lost a close fight by split decision against another more experienced foe, Mehdi Salouane. Benzaquen finished with a pro boxing record of 1-2.

Cyril took his flying knees back to kickboxing, where he continued his astonishing success. He made his return to Glory in 2024 and won another ISKA world title. He is an eight-time world champion, a mark which includes title defenses in French kickboxing. Though his boxing career was brief, the champ continues to add to his long list of achievements in other disciplines.