
“How many have been devoured by the lion Yvan Mendy in 58 professional fights, since the KO inflicted on Faisal Bahache in the second round? We are in 2006 and the legend of Yvan Mendy is just beginning to be written,” enters the first magistrate of the town of Pont-Sainte-Maxence. That evening, it was indeed a boxer who was in the spotlight. Yvan Mendy known as “The Lion”. Everything went well for the Pontois boxer. But like everything comes to an end, the athlete has decided to hang up his gloves, being able to be proud of his record in the process.
Pont-Sainte-Maxence is a land of boxers. No one can dispute this and we can have as proof the number of champions that the city has through its bcop club, the Olympic boxing club of Pont-Ste-Maxence which, for several decades, has trained and trained talents. of the ring. Through Yvan Mendy, all this work is also saluted during the ceremony planned at town hall. Friends, coaches, trainers, licensees, were present for this honoring of a boxer who, excuse me, has never been on the ground during his career and who has a string of belts.
Yvan is also a nickname, the one he wears proudly and easily in the rings of Europe: The Lion. The feline matches the boxer’s personality well.
“First a huge champion or first an extraordinary man?” asks Arnaud Dumontier before trying to provide some answers.
“You have to be Yvan Mendy…with this land of Africa which is never far away since the uprooting of your parents, this land where man and nature are one, this land made of pain and hopes , this land which nourishes our existence and teaches us life, this land of which the Senegalese poet Léopold Sedar Senghor said “We do not inherit the land from our parents, we borrow it from our children”, continues the first magistrate who will mention in passing, Saint-Exupéry or even Ronsard. And yes, in a certain form, boxing is poetry. If there is not the magic of words in the rings, there is that of action, confrontation, technicality, endurance and determination. Yvan boxes in a category (lightweight) where, if one of these elements is missing, everyone knows that his career will not go far. With The Lion, the equation was met, until this precious last home fight, in December, which ended in a new and final victory for the professional boxer.
“Yvan was “a little guy from the Terriers district” as he describes himself, then he took the BCOP to the highest level, made our city shine beyond its borders,” notes the mayor who don’t forget to pay tribute to the coach. When a boxer succeeds, makes an impression, wins prestigious titles through sweat and precision, Giovanni Boggia is never far away. An emblematic trainer, pride can be seen in his eyes every time a Bcop boxer is in the spotlight. He is happy for them, satisfied with the work accomplished, proud to have passed on. Bcop is a big family and this was once again felt during this evening.
During this ceremony, Arnaud Dumontier also presented the city medal to Alain Simon, local child and former boxing champion.
A great opportunity also to congratulate Clément Saumon for winning the Jean-Claude Bouttier challenge by knockout last December. The mayor would like to see Clément return to town hall one day with the world champion belt around his waist.
And now on the Bcop side? Well Yvan is busy and more than necessary. Everyone knows it very close to his family, but Yvan, who became a coach himself at the age of 26, continues his momentum and still at Bcop. It is an essential role for this club which is constantly preparing for the future, unearthing talent and fighting.
The president, Franck Dourlans, is also preparing for a busy year. It begins with Dan Blenda Dos Santos who will defend his EBU European light heavyweight belt for the first time against Shakan Pitters in front of the Briton’s audience in Sheffield. The appointment is made on February 7.
To be continued…


