By Peter Lerner: Tonight Dublin hosts the first of two matches between Ireland and Italy at senior level (the second will be held in Belfast on Sunday). This really is a mouth-watering clash: two of the best nations in Europe pitting more or less their strongest teams against each other. Both teams contain an exciting mix of Olympic medallists, serial national champions and very promising youngsters.
Amongst a strong cast of fighters, those who really stand out are Paddy Barnes (Bronze Medallist in Beijing, he’ll be fighting on Sunday), John Joe Joyce (quarter finalist in Beijing), John Joe Nevin (Bronze at the World Championships last September), Darren O’ Neill (EU Gold in 2009) and the promising Ray Moylette (World Junior Gold in 2008) for the Irish. The Italians have Roberto Cammarelle (Olympic champion and double World champion), Domenico Valentino (World champion at lightweight and AIBA Fighter of the Year), Clemente Russo (Silver in Beijing) and Vincenzo Picardi (Bronze in Beijing).
Here is a list of tonight’s bouts, with the fighters’ clubs and ages in brackets (for the Italian fighters the Centro Sportivo Esercito, or CSE, is the army; the Gruppo Sportivo Fiamme Oro, or GSFO, is the police).
51 kg:
Jimmy Moore (St Francis, 30) v Alex Ferramosca (Centro Sportivo Esercito, 26)
Ferramosca’s record stands at 32-16-6 (3-3-1 in internationals). He’s the reigning national champion at 51 kilos. He was also champion in 2005. When I’ve seen Ferramosca box, he has been skittery and elusive, mixing movement with sudden bursts of punches.
Gary Molloy (Moate, 19) v Vincenzo Picardi (Gruppo Sportivo Fiamme Oro, 26)
Molloy won the National Senior title last Saturday with a 6-5 win over Conor Ahern. He’s facing one of the more experienced men in the Italian team. Picardi’s 86-38-4 record includes 4 national titles at senior level, a bronze in Chicago in 2007 and that bronze in Beijing. Incidentally, he beat Conor Ahern 41-11 in Helsinki three years ago.
54 kg:
John Joe Nevin (Cavan, 20) v Vittorio Parrinello (CSE, 26)
Nevin has progressed to senior level brilliantly. Over the course of 2008 and 2009 he picked up two National Senior titles (to which we can add the third he won last week), an EU gold and an EU silver, a Worlds bronze, a silver in the Presidents Cup, and he participated in the last Olympics. Not bad for a lad of just 20. His opponent has a record of 81-41-8. He’s been National Senior champion for four out of the last five years and he’s been an international since 2001. He beat David Oliver Joyce in Cleveland in 2005. He’s fairly tall for the weight and often fights aggressively in the first couple of rounds, throwing five or six punches at a time, before protecting his lead in the last. He won his national final in December convincingly enough but he had some problems in the quarters and the semis, fights he won by countback and three points respectively.
57 kg:
Tyrone McCullough (Illies Golden Gloves, 19) v Alessio Di Savino (CSE, 25)
McCullough has moved through the levels nicely: National Youth champion in 2008, Under 21 semi finalist in 2009, and last Friday he won the National Senior title. In Di Savino he faces a fighter who has been National Senior champion for the past five years. At national level he’s nigh on untouchable (though exciting youngster Ciro Cipriano pushed him very close in their December final) but he’s yet to shine at international level. On his day he’s a classy, complete-looking fighter.
60 kg:
Eric Donovan (St Michaels, Athy) v Domenico Valentino (GSFO, 25)
These two have met three times before. Donovan won the first bout in Dublin in 2002 but Valentino has since gained revenge twice, beating him in Dublin in 2007 and then winning in the third round later that year at the World Championships in Chicago. Donovan’s a good, experienced fighter but Valentino is one of the absolute elite amateur fighters in the world.
64 kg:
Ray Moylette (St Annes, 19) v Vincenzo Mangiacapre (Excelsior Boxe, 21)
The two match-ups at 64 kilos feature four promising youngsters and should make for two very intriguing fights. Mangiacapre (whose name translates as ‘Goateater’) was the runner up in December at 69 kg. At times he resembles an Ingle fighter, favouring elusiveness, upper body movement and punches from strange angles. Diego Di Luisa beat him in their final last December by making him come forward. Moylette is the man with the greater pedigree here. His Senior title win last week confirming that he’s yet another Irish fighter progressing well through the levels.
Phil Sutcliffe (Crumlin, 20) v Davide Cenciarelli (Il Gladiatore, 18)
Cenciarelli is the baby of the team but don’t let that fool you. This fighter is a beast. He won the Juniors in the autumn and was technically too inexperienced to enter the Seniors in November. He was accepted as a wildcard and proceeded to become the star of the tournament. Extremely strong for his age, this southpaw powered his way to the title, defeating two ex-champions en route. His record is 37-5. This should be an interesting contest. Sutcliffe is no slouch himself and he picked up an EU bonze last year.
69 kg:
John Joe Joyce (St Michaels, Athy, 22) v Diego Di Luisa (CSE, 24)
Di Luisa, 51-13-3, is one of the more rugged Italian fighters. Usually aggressive with a good left hook, he’s bright enough to change tactics mid-fight if needs be. If it hadn’t been for Cenciarelli and Podda, he would have been story of the last National Seniors. After having been out for two years because of injury, he went straight into the tournament and won four bouts in five days to become champion for the second time. It’s worth noting that he is 2-1 against Valentino, though the last time they fought was as kids in 2001. On paper Joyce looks the stronger. He has a European bronze to his name and also reached the quarter finals in Beijing. Still, it should be a good, competitive match.
75 kg:
Darren O’ Neill (Paulstown, 24) v Luca Podda (ASD Cosmo, 22)
This fight at middle could be a cracker. It pits the experienced and talented O’ Neill (three golds in international competition, including last year’s EUs) against a fighter who is seen as the up and coming golden boy of Italian boxing. Podda is always fun to watch – tall, fast and aggressive. He has been National Senior champion for the last two years and in September he got to the second round of the Worlds. The fact that he was terribly disappointed despite losing to a fine fighter in Steve Rolls shows how ambitious he is.
81 kg:
Gezim Disha (St Matthews) v Simone Fiori (CSE, 20)
Another one of the Italian youngsters, Fiori was one of the surprises of the National Seniors. He eliminated the reigning champion Ivano Del Monte and won in the final when his opponent hurt his ankle. He’s usually quite composed and careful. His record is 34-4.
91 kg:
Con Sheehan (Clonmel, 21) v Clemente Russo (GSFO, 27)
This could be an interesting fight. In theory Russo should be too talented and experienced. He’s won 161 of 199 fights and was World champion in 2007 and Olympic silver medallist in 2008, whereas Sheehan has 3 Senior titles and an EU gold to his name. However, coming off his Senior title win just a week ago Sheehan should be up for this. Russo on the other hand has attracted criticism from some quarters for appearing in a reality television show and flirting with offers to go pro. He hasn’t seemed quite as focused as two years ago.
91+ kg:
David Joyce (Moate, 23) v Roberto Cammarelle (GSFO, 29)
They won’t come any tougher than this for Joyce. Cammarelle is unbeaten in three years and 46 contests. He’s the reigning World and Olympic champion. It could be argued that he’s currently the most dominant amateur in the sport today.
Apart from the home advantage for the Irish, another factor in the outcome of some of these bouts could be just how ready some of these boxers are. Most of the Irish fighters are fighting just one week after competing in the Senior championships whereas the Italians have been away at the National Centre for Boxing (with 10 days of mountain training in February) since the start of the year, with just a few days break here and there. Will this be a factor? Will the Irish lads be buoyant and flying after the successes at the Seniors? Will they still be in peak fighting shape (mentally and physically) or will they be a little flat from their exertions (and here I’m thinking especially of fighters like Donovan who came through very competitive finals)? The majority of the Italians have not fought since the Seniors three months ago, some fighters for even longer. How sharp will they be? Either way, it promises to be a good evening’s boxing.
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