I remember watching Damiani face off with Mercer in 1991. The other two fights on that card were Morrison vs Tillis and Seldon vs Ribalta. It made for a very entertaining evening of good prospectship ( if that's even a real word. ) I had never before seen Damiani fight, and only saw his name listed in ring magazine. I was surprised at how fluid and skilled he was for a many of his less than impressive physique. He really did put on a boxing clinic for Ray Mercer. I had originally cheered for Mercer as I was more familiar with him as a fighter and watched his battles with Bert Cooper and Kimmuel Odom prior to this fight. But as time passed, I found myself rooting for Damiani, and had hoped that he would retain his impressive unbeaten record. The left uppercut ( or hook, can't remember which ), was a heart breaker. It was a great win for Mercer and I was happy for him, but also felt bad for Damiani. But turned off the television admiring what a decent fighter he was. The next time I saw Damiani was even more disheartening, as Oliver McCall took him apart a few years later. By this time Francesco was genuinly deteriorated.. A few months ago, someone posted his 1988 meeting with Tyrell Biggs, and he looked good taking bigs apart.. I think he was a pretty good fighter who had decent power and better than average boxing skills. But his biggest let down would always be his lack of durability along with subpar conditioning. At his best he was truly worthy of being top 10 material, which I assume was from around 1989 to perhaps 1991.. But probably only the lower tier of the 10. A fight with either Mike Tyson or Evander Holyfield around that time would have been a mismatch. He was basically made to be a fringe type, but a very good fringe nonetheless
:good Rarely gets a mention these days ol' johnny du plooy was battering snipes until he ran out of steam and quit
Nice stroll down memory lane, but I do believe Mercer fought Damiani before Morrison. Not sure. I had Morrison the favorite because of Mercer's performance against Damiani. Good post nonetheless.
Damiani boxed Mercer better than Larry Holmes did. Holmes spoiled, juked, and jived his way to a win; Damiani actually worked and put on a clinic (up until he got his nose bashed in). No wonder George Foreman turned a Damiani fight down!
Damiani was a good fighter, but he didn't do anything after the Mercer fight for us to really know how good he was.
Mercer seriously smashed up Damiani's nose, there was even talk of him quitting because of it. Never the same again. :smoke:smoke
I will always remember Francesco Damiani for this: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReHXr2EbavE[/ame]