Francesco Damiani

Francesco Damiani
Statistics
Rated at	Heavyweight
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Nationality	Italian
Born	4 October 1958 Bagnacavallo, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	32
Wins	30
Wins by KO	24
Losses	2
Medal record Men's boxing Competitor for  Italy Olympic Games 1984 Los Angeles Super heavyweight World Amateur Championships 1982 Munich Super heavyweight European Amateur Championships 1981 Tampere Super heavyweight 1983 Varna Super heavyweight

Francesco Damiani (born 4 October 1958) is an Italian former professional boxer. He was the first WBO heavyweight champion and also held the European heavyweight title. As an amateur he won a silver medal in the super heavyweight division at both the 1982 World Amateur Boxing Championships and the 1984 Olympics.

Amateur

He participated at 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, where he lost to the eventual silver medalist Piotr Zaev in the quarter-finals. The following year he won the European Amateur Championships in Tampere. At the 1982 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Munich, he beat the legendary Teofilo Stevenson but lost to Tyrell Biggs in the final. In 1983 in Varna he became European champion for the second time, beating Ulli Kaden. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles he again lost to Biggs in the final, despite Biggs' home crowd booing at the judges decision who believed Damiani won the contest (since he threw more punches and was moving forward for most of the contest) which led to the leading BBC Boxing commentator Harry Carpenter, who was commentating for the BBC sport Olympic coverage, to say that "..it the worst boxing decision in all my years of boxing commentating". Francesco Damiani was the Italian boxing team coach for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games held in London.^[1]

Olympic results

1980

• Defeated Teodor Pîrjol (Romania) 4-1
• Lost to Piotr Zaev (Soviet Union) 0-5

1984

• 1st round bye
• Defeated Willie Isangura (Tanzania) RSC 2
• Defeated Robert Wells (Great Britain) RSC 3
• Lost to Tyrell Biggs (United States) 1-4

Professional

Damiani began his pro career on a tear, with 27 consecutive victories over limited opposition. He defeated Tyrell Biggs in a rematch of their Olympic meeting, stopping him on a cut, and then won the newly created WBO Heavyweight title with a 3rd round KO victory over Johnny DuPlooy on May 6, 1989. Damiani hit a brick wall when he took on 1988 Olympic Gold Medalist Ray Mercer in 1991 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Damiani was ahead on points but went down after a Mercer left uppercut broke his nose, and he was counted out by the referee in the 9th round.

Damiani would come back in 1992 to take a decision over former champion Greg Page, but was KO'd in the following bout in 1993 by Oliver McCall, ending his career.

Professional boxing record

30 Wins (24 knockouts, 6 decisions), 2 Losses (2 knockouts, 0 decisions) [2]
Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
Loss	21-5	Oliver "Atomic Bull" McCall	TKO	8	1993-04-23	Memphis, Tennessee, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 1:09 of the eighth round.
Win	35-10	Greg Page	UD	10	1992-09-12	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States	95-93, 95-93, 95-93.
Win	42-12-3	Michael Greer	KO	1	1992-04-22	East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States	Greer knocked out at 3:00 of the first round.
Win	22-6	Frankie "The Tennessee Stud" Swindell	PTS	8	1992-03-07	Fano, Marche, Italy
Loss	16-0	"Merciless" Ray Mercer	KO	9	1991-01-11	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	WBO World Heavyweight Title. Damiani knocked out at 2:47 of the ninth round.
Win	17-10-1	Everett Martin	KO	2	1990-10-20	Cesena, Emilia Romagna, Italy
Win	17-10-1	Tony "Kid" Morrison	KO	3	1990-06-02	Pavia, Lombardia, Italy
Win	19-0-1	Daniel Eduardo Neto	TKO	2	1989-12-16	Cesena, Emilia Romagna, Italy	WBO World Heavyweight Title.
Win	22-2-1	Johnny du Plooy	KO	3	1989-05-06	Syracuse, Sicily, Italy	WBO World Heavyweight Title.
Win	31-7-2	Manfred Jassmann	KO	3	1988-12-17	Sassari, Sardegna, Italy	EBU Heavyweight Title.
Win	15-1	Tyrell Biggs	TKO	5	1988-10-29	Milan, Lombardia, Italy	Referee stopped the bout at 1:06 of the fifth round.
Win	11-0	John Emmen	TKO	3	1988-04-22	Milan, Lombardia, Italy	EBU Heavyweight Title.
Win	12-7-1	Dorcey Gaymon	KO	4	1988-01-22	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Win	16-3-1	Anders Eklund	KO	6	1987-10-09	Aosta, Valle d'Aosta, Italy	EBU Heavyweight Title.
Win	12-7	Eddie Richardson	PTS	10	1987-07-11	Corsico, Lombardia, Italy
Win	20-3	James "Broad Axe" Broad	UD	10	1987-04-11	Bologna, Emilia Romagna, Italy	99-95, 99-95, 99-95.
Win	24-2-1	Eddie Gregg	TKO	1	1987-02-14	Lucca, Toscana, Italy	WBC International Heavyweight Title.
Win	8-5	Rodney "King" Smith	TKO	2	1986-12-19	Ancona, Marche, Italy
Win	13-1-1	Kevin P Porter	TKO	5	1986-11-14	San Giuseppe Vesuviano, Campania, Italy
Win	18-5	Rocky Sekorski	PTS	10	1986-09-19	Lerici, Liguria, Italy
Win	16-5	Donnie "Master of Disaster" Long	KO	2	1986-07-04	Porlezza, Lombardia, Italy
Win	24-10	Danny "Smiley" Sutton	TKO	7	1986-05-30	Abano Terme, Veneto, Italy
Win	16-11-2	"Smokin" Mike Perkins	TKO	5	1986-04-02	Totowa, New Jersey, United States
Win	22-8-1	Tom Trimm	KO	2	1986-02-14	Milan, Lombardia, Italy
Win	22-7-1	Bobby Crabtree	TKO	6	1986-01-31	Abbiategrasso, Lombardia, Italy
Win	25-7-5	Felipe "Pantera de Arosa III" Rodriguez	TKO	5	1985-09-28	Sassari, Sardegna, Italy
Win	14-11-1	Rick "King Kong" Kellar	TKO	1	1985-07-13	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 1:26 of the first round.
Win	20-17	Walter Santemore	PTS	6	1985-06-29	Bellaria, Emilia Romagna, Italy
Win	3-14-1	Larry Roberson	TKO	1	1985-05-17	Stateline, Nevada, United States
Win	15-10-2	Dragomir Milo Popovic	TKO	6	1985-04-20	Ceriale, Liguria, Italy
Win	16-8-3	George Butzbach	TKO	2	1985-03-08	Modena, Emilia Romagna, Italy
Win	0-1	Allou Gobe	TKO	3	1985-01-05	Perugia, Umbria, Italy

References

1. "Francesco Damiani Pictures – Casa Italia at London 2012 Olympic Games". Zimbio. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
2. Boxing record for Francesco Damiani. BoxRec.com.

External links

• "Francesco Damiani". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC.
• Professional boxing record for Francesco Damiani from BoxRec