Latest Italian Boxing News

By Peter Lerner: This week in Italian Boxing Update we will be looking forward to the first – and hopefully not the last – world title fight in Italy this year and we have a brief round up of the latest news.

It has been argued in some quarters that the outstanding Italian boxer at the moment is not the world’s dominant super heavyweight, Roberto Cammarelle. Nor is it his teammate, AIBA Fighter of the Year Domenico Valentino. Don’t even mention ex world champion Giacobbe Fragomeni or WBC middleweight challenger Domenico Spada. Instead, some people are convinced that a 5’5”, 37-year-old lady from Emilia Romagna is the best of all. The argument in Simona Galassi’s favour is quite strong. As an amateur she went 86-1, winning 3 World Championships and 3 European Championships along the way. She’s currently 12-0-1 as a pro and she’s the WBC flyweight champion, with four successful defences to her name.

Tomorrow night in her hometown of Bertinoro she will defend her title against the Mexican Esmeralda Moreno. The challenger brings a record of 12-5-0 (5), and will be looking to ruin Galassi’s dreams of unifying the division in a match up with Susi Kentikian, the WBA and WBO champion. Despite having held a couple of youth titles and being a sturdy, aggressive fighter, Moreno shouldn’t in theory cause the sharp, composed Galassi too many problems. However, the champion herself has noted, “In boxing you should never underestimate an opponent. In my career there’s an example why: I easily beat a quality fighter in Eileen Olszewski but I drew with Nadia Hockmi. I tend to have more difficulty with less technical fighters than I do with outstanding fighters.”

The undercard features five undefeated Italians against five uninspiring Hungarians. The Italians have a combined record of 40-0-1 (23) against one of 43-111-11 (16) for the Hungarians. Amongst the Italians are two illustrious nephews – Carel Sandon, the nephew of Sumbu Kalambay, and Antonio Moscatiello, the nephew of Fragomeni. Also on the undercard is quality welterweight Michele Di Rocco in his first fight since leaving Rosanna Conti Cavini.

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On Friday and Sunday the men’s senior squads of Ireland and Italy will meet in what should be two cracking matches. Both teams are full of quality, experience and exciting youngsters. In terms of quality boxing and balanced fights it should be as good as anything on offer this weekend. The Italian squad features 4 Beijing Olympians, including three medallists, while the Irish squad features three Olympians from Beijing (with one medallist). Look out for a full preview on Secondsout.

Secondsout spoke to Vittorio Oi, the Italian light welter champion. He had been due to defend his title last week against Samuele Esposito but had to pull out because of a hand injury. Oi explained what happened, “During the fight with Di Feto (in which Oi won the title back in October) I broke the metacarpal on my left hand. If I’d rested for three or four months, it would have been ok. But I started training again after a month and a half because I was originally due to fight Esposito in February. During training the hand went again.” He will have a check up in ten days time. If the calcification process is going well, he should be able to fight again by the start of May. If not, he could be forced to have an operation, recovery from which would keep him out until the summer.

Next week sees the return of Leonard Bundu. The undefeated welterweight faces Argentine Carlos Adan Jerez in Florence. The undercard sees features a clash between Rodrigo Bracco and Pio Antonio Nettuno for the vacant Italian bantamweight title. There will be a preview in next week’s Italian Boxing Update.



March 11, 2010