# Jacobin Yoma

Jacobin Yoma (born 6 October 1966) is a French Guianan former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 1999, and held the European super-featherweight 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, French Guiana, as a member of the Aluku 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 Brazilian opponent Geraldo Leite by points in Cayenne. In his fifth bout, he traveled to the United States and fought Regilio Tuur to a majority draw – 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 super-featherweight 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 (UD). Yoma again captured the French and FECARBOX titles before he received another shot at the European crown in Rotterdam 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 and Jules Deelder. Four months later he lost a decision to Guyanese prospect Joseph Murray 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 in Copenhagen on 7 October 1994. He lost the title on 4 July 1995, suffering a UD defeat in the Paris suburb of Thiais 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

| 54 fights | 40 wins | 11 losses |
| By knockout | 21 | 1 |
| By decision | 19 | 10 |
| Draws | 3 | 3 |
| No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes |
| 54 | Loss | 40–11–3 | Didier Tual | PTS | 8 | 26 Jun 1999 | Reims, France | |
| 53 | Win | 40–10–3 | Franck Requier | PTS | 8 | 28 May 1999 | Saint-Lô, France | |
| 52 | Loss | 39–10–3 | Adrian Parlogea | PTS | 8 | 6 Mar 1999 | Saint-Quentin, France | |
| 51 | Win | 39–9–3 | Lennox Jones | PTS | 8 | 9 Jan 1999 | Ducos, Martinique | |
| 50 | Loss | 38–9–3 | Affif Djelti | PTS | 10 | 28 Mar 1998 | Cayenne, French Guiana | For French super-featherweight title |
| 49 | Loss | 38–8–3 | Affif Djelti | PTS | 10 | 7 Jun 1997 | Le Havre, France | Lost French super-featherweight title |
| 48 | Win | 38–7–3 | Hocine Hassani | PTS | 10 | 1 Mar 1997 | Cayenne, French Guiana | |
| 47 | Loss | 37–7–3 | Dramane Nabaloum | PTS | 8 | 10 Dec 1996 | Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso | |
| 46 | Win | 37–6–3 | Víctor Torres | RTD | 6 (?) | 9 Nov 1996 | Cayenne, French Guiana | |
| 45 | Win | 36–6–3 | Affif Djelti | TKO | 1 (10) | 29 Jun 1996 | Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, French Guiana | Won French super-featherweight title |
| 44 | Win | 35–6–3 | Radames Bido | TKO | 1 (?) | 12 Apr 1996 | Cayenne, French Guiana | |
| 43 | Loss | 34–6–3 | Affif Djelti | TKO | 6 (?) | 15 Dec 1995 | Rouen, France | |
| 42 | Win | 34–5–3 | Luiz Ferreira | RTD | 3 (?) | 10 Nov 1995 | Cayenne, French Guiana | |
| 41 | Loss | 33–5–3 | Anatoly Alexandrov | UD | 12 | 4 Jul 1995 | Thiais, France | Lost European super-featherweight title |
| 40 | Win | 33–4–3 | Joey Negron | PTS | 8 | 14 Feb 1995 | Thiais, France | |
| 39 | Win | 32–4–3 | Hocine Hassani | MD | 8 | 4 Dec 1994 | Palais Omnisports de Thiais, Thiais, France | |
| 38 | Win | 31–4–3 | Jimmi Bredahl | UD | 12 | 7 Oct 1994 | K.B. Hallen, Copenhagen, Denmark | Retained European super-featherweight title |
| 37 | Loss | 30–4–3 | Alric Johnson | PTS | 10 | 11 Jun 1994 | Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe | |
| 36 | Draw | 30–3–3 | Dramane Nabaloum | PTS | 8 | 3 Jun 1994 | Abidjan, Ivory Coast | |
| 35 | Win | 30–3–2 | Neil Haddock | RTD | 6 (12) | 14 May 1994 | Cayenne, French Guiana | Retained European super-featherweight title |
| 34 | Win | 29–3–2 | Víctor Laureano | PTS | 8 | 8 Apr 1994 | Cayenne, French Guiana | |
| 33 | Win | 28–3–2 | Rimvydas Bilius | TKO | 8 (12) | 28 Jan 1994 | Cayenne, French Guiana | Retained European super-featherweight title |
| 32 | Win | 27–3–2 | Arao Macedo | PTS | 10 | 5 Nov 1993 | Cayenne, French Guiana | |
| 31 | Win | 26–3–2 | Areski Bakir | TKO | 8 (12) | 2 Oct 1993 | Cayenne, French Guiana | Retained European super-featherweight title |
| 30 | Win | 25–3–2 | Regilio Tuur | SD | 12 | 11 Jun 1993 | Cayenne, French Guiana | Won European super-featherweight title |
| 29 | Loss | 24–3–2 | Joseph Murray | UD | 12 | 18 Apr 1993 | National Sports Hall, Georgetown, Guyana | For vacant WBC FECARBOX super-featherweight title |
| 28 | Draw | 24–2–2 | Kamel Bou Ali | MD | 8 | 6 Feb 1993 | Cirque d'hiver, Paris, France | |
| 27 | Loss | 24–2–1 | Regilio Tuur | PTS | 12 | 3 Dec 1992 | Sportpaleis Ahoy, Rotterdam, Netherlands | For vacant European super-featherweight title |
| 26 | Win | 24–1–1 | Danilo Cabrera | KO | 6 (?) | 30 Oct 1992 | Cayenne, French Guiana | |
| 25 | Win | 23–1–1 | Hector Padilla | TKO | 4 (?) | 4 Jul 1992 | Lamentin, Guadeloupe | |
| 24 | Win | 22–1–1 | Hocine Hassani | RTD | 6 (10) | 12 Jun 1992 | Cayenne, French Guiana | Won vacant French super-featherweight title |
| 23 | Win | 21–1–1 | Jean Pierre Dibateza | PTS | 10 | 15 May 1992 | Cayenne, French Guiana | |
| 22 | Win | 20–1–1 | Alain Pernice | PTS | 8 | 3 Apr 1992 | Clermont-Ferrand, France | |
| 21 | Win | 19–1–1 | Bobby Brewer | PTS | 8 | 27 Feb 1992 | Paris, France | |
| 20 | Win | 18–1–1 | Moussa Sangare | MD | 8 | 30 Jan 1992 | Paris, France | |
| 19 | Win | 17–1–1 | Wilson Fontalvo | RTD | 6 (12), 3:00 | 17 Jan 1992 | Cayenne, French Guiana | Won vacant WBC FECARBOX super-featherweight title |
| 18 | Win | 16–1–1 | Ed Pollard | TKO | 3 (?) | 30 Nov 1991 | Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe | |
| 17 | Win | 15–1–1 | Alain Simoes | PTS | 8 | 25 Oct 1991 | Cayenne, French Guiana | |
| 16 | Loss | 14–1–1 | Daniel Londas | UD | 12 | 14 Jun 1991 | Reims, France | For European super-featherweight title |
| 15 | Win | 14–0–1 | Rodolfo Chirino | RTD | 8 (12) | 4 May 1991 | Cayenne, French Guiana | Retained WBC FECARBOX super-featherweight title |
| 14 | Win | 13–0–1 | Junior Drakes | TKO | 1 (?) | 27 Mar 1991 | Cayenne, French Guiana | |
| 13 | Win | 12–0–1 | Luis Rodríguez | KO | 2 (8) | 23 Feb 1991 | Stade du Futbol, Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe | |
| 12 | Win | 11–0–1 | Christino Suero | KO | 5 (12), 1:09 | 18 Jan 1991 | National Hall of Sports, Cayenne, French Guiana | Won vacant WBC FECARBOX super-featherweight title |
| 11 | Win | 10–0–1 | Jesse Torres | PTS | 10 | 7 Dec 1990 | Sports Hall, Cayenne, French Guiana | |
| 10 | Win | 9–0–1 | Curtis Strong | PTS | 8 | 3 Nov 1990 | Deauville, France | |
| 9 | Win | 8–0–1 | Richie Foster | KO | 4 (?) | 12 Oct 1990 | Cayenne, French Guiana | |
| 8 | Win | 7–0–1 | Mohammed Bennama | RTD | 9 (10) | 18 May 1990 | Cayenne, French Guiana | Won vacant French super-featherweight title |
| 7 | Win | 6–0–1 | Pierre Lorcy | PTS | 10 | 6 Apr 1990 | Cayenne, French Guiana | |
| 6 | Win | 5–0–1 | Lloyd Ratalsky | KO | 4 (?) | 16 Mar 1990 | Sports Hall, Cayenne, French Guiana | |
| 5 | Draw | 4–0–1 | Regilio Tuur | MD | 6 | 12 Feb 1990 | Westchester County Center, White Plains, New York, U.S. | |
| 4 | Win | 4–0 | Belaid Khaldi | TKO | 1 (?) | 19 Jan 1990 | Cayenne, French Guiana | |
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Jose Gonzales | RTD | 3 (?), 3:00 | 8 Dec 1989 | Sports Hall, Cayenne, French Guiana | |
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Silverio Flores | PTS | 6 | 10 Nov 1989 | Cayenne, French Guiana | |
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Geraldo Leite | PTS | 6 | 6 Oct 1989 | Cayenne, French Guiana | |

## Personal life

Yoma is a member of the Aluku 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.