Joë Guez

From the 1940s, a generation of Jewish boxers trained at the le Cercle Joë Guez. Guez was a boxing coach who had enormous success training Tunisian Jewish boxers, Victor “Young” Perez being the most notable. Boxing champions, including Sadok Bahri and Felix Brami. Known as the “Prince of the Hafsia”, Simon Bellaïche, who trained with Guez, was champion of Tunisia and won a silver medal at the 1959 Mediterranean Games in Beirut.   

Earlier in his career, Guez had been a boxing coach at the Maccabi of Tunis, a club for Jewish youth that hosted an array of sports. Today, a photo on the wall in the boxing gym is captioned with the word Maccabi. Joë Guez was honoured with the Order of Nichan Iftikhar.