By Robert Coster
Jean -Baptiste Mendy of France, one of Europe’s most talented boxers in the 1990s, passed away from cancer yesterday at age 57. Mendy conquered both the WBC and WBA lightweight titles. He won the vacant WBC lightweight belt with a decision over Lamar Murphy (4-20-1996). He lost his title by split decision to Stevie Johnson (3-1-1997). He became the WBA lightweight champion by outpointing unbeaten titleholder Orzubek Nazarov (5-16-1998). Mendy lost his title to fellow Frenchman Julien Lorcy by stoppage (4-10-1999) and he retired the next year with an excellent record of 55-8-3, 31 KOs. Rest in Peace, Champ.
I read elsewhere he suffered from pancreatic cancer as the type of cancer.
Classy fighter, may he Rest In Peace and may God comfort his family and loved ones…
RIP
Mendy had a fine career. Thanks to excellent writer Robert Coster for keeping us up on the news.
I remember Jean Baptiste Mendy from the 90’s. He was tall and lanky. Mendy was involved in a lot of high quality domestic battles in the early 90’s. France actually had a number of tough 135-140 fighters at the time. He was gutsy, resilient and made the most of his talent. If you google his fights on youtube you’ll see for yourself. RIP Jean Baptiste!