Brahim Asloum, the first French boxer to have won a world title belt after winning the Olympic gold medal, will now take on a new challenge in getting behind the wheel of a Nissan Pathfinder in the Dessoude team for the 2008 Dakar. The champion in Sydney 2000 finally rose to the summit of his sport after suffering some painful disappointments in his first title bouts in the professional ranks, most notably against the Venezuelan Lorenzo Parra (December 2005) and Argentinean Omar Narvaez ‘March 2007). For his third attempt, Asloum put himself through a draconian training schedule, dropping 11 kilograms in total to fight in the middle flyweight division. The world title (WBA) was the property of Juan Carlos Reveco. Against the Argentinean, Asloum took the 12 round decision on December 8 in Cannet, France.

This first world title belt has Asloum hungry for more, who, before thinking about taking on the champions in the other federations (WBC, IBF and WBO), is taking on another challenge in entering the Dakar. For his first run in rally raid, the novice driver will be aided by Patrick Antoniolli, who will be participating in his 9th Dakar. Asloum is the first boxer to take on the adventure. In the world of combat sports, only Marie-Claire Restoux dared to make the transition, as co-driver to Sylvaine Goutaland in 1998: the two women finished the rally 26th overall. Who could ask for anything more?