Robert Paturel

Robert Paturel is a French Savate boxer and RAID veteran, born in 1952 in Rueil-Malmaison. He won the French Boxing championship six times in France, and became a European champion in 1984.

Nicknamed "Gorille" (Gorilla), he is famous in France and often appears in newslets and movies teaching martial arts techniques. Robert Paturel began his professional career as a pastrychef and then as a nightclubdoorman.

He became a policeman in the French Police Nationale in 1976. He was detached to the Instruction Company in 1980, as an expert in self-defense. He imported the tonfa to France - a Japanese baton - and codified its use in the official program of the French Tonfa-Safety Training (Formation française de tonfa-sécurité, FFTS); with this method being now taught in police academies.