Banner Promotions President Art Pelullo has signed French middleweight champion Julien “Brigadier” Marie Sainte and Montreal super bantamweight prospect Olivier Lontchi to promotional contracts.
Art said, “I’m very pleased to have signed Julien and Olivier, and I’m looking forward to working with them. They’re both managed by Otis and Howard Grant of Grant Brothers Boxing, with whom I have a very good relationship – Otis was my first world champion – and we make a very good team.
“We plan to keep Julien and Olivier busy in 2012, and expect them to have a lot of success in the coming months.”
Otis Grant said, “I have a lot of respect and admiration for Artie and the team at Banner. We go back a very long way. I am getting more involved in training and managing this year and I can’t think of anybody else who I would rather have working with these fighters than Artie and Banner. We have always had a great relationship, and hopefully we will continue to have a successful one in the future with Julien and Olivier.”
The 28 year-old Marie Sainte, from Aulnay-sous-Bois, Seine-Saint-Denis, France, is currently ranked No. 8 at middleweight by the WBA. Now 31-2 with 23 knockouts, he has won 13 fights in a row, 11 by knockout, which include winning the French middleweight title in May, 2010, and making four successful title defenses.
Lontchi, also 28 years old, is a former Canadian featherweight champion and has held the NABO and NABA titles at 122 pounds. Now 18-2-2 with 8 knockouts, his only two losses have come against top-level opposition - two-time world champion Juan Manuel Lopez, and No. 1 ranked featherweight contender Mikey Garcia.
