why didn't francesco damiani fight mike tyson ?

Winner takes on Chuck Norris.

 

Damiami simply wasnt as marketable an opponent.
The Mercer fight also scuppered things.
Damiani was well managed in order to make money then
get out of boxing in one piece...both of which were achieved.
His management got Tyrell Biggs to fight in Milan as Tyrells first fight
back after Tyson...his cuts re openend and poor old Tyrells
career went down the pan...Poor management of Tyrell by Duva.
Conversely Damiani was well managed regarding the risk versus
reward strategy.
He was a seriously tough guy who did nothing really well but nothing badly.
At Tysons best its an easy win for Mike against a slow opponent..in Mikes
post prime its a durable opponent who catches up with you in the second
half of the fight.....i am sure Damiani loses no sleep over never having fought Mike...he
made his money and now lives well and trains the Italian olympic team.
Good guy.

 

Delete.

 

I believe Damiani didn't want the fight.
And after the Spinks fight, Tyson's schedule slowed down anyway, he became unreliable, so the fight was unlikely to be made on both sides.

Damiani was a good fighter but I suspect he grew tired of the professional game quite quickly. He made some decent money, he avenged his disputed Olympic defeat by beating Biggs. Getting beat up by Tyson he didn't fancy.

Later on, in 1991, he allegedly pulled out of the Holyfield fight after viewing the champ in an open sparring session. He developed an 'injury' that didn't quite exist, I've heard.

I respect him if this is true. I'd rather a fighter makes an excuse or prices himself out of a fight than turn up for the money and look for the easy way out when the bell rings.

 

^ I don't buy that. Damiani was a big, rough guy with an excellent chin. He had no problem with turning from a boxer to a brawler. Dont see him being scared of Tyson.

 

Here we go:

"A 25 anni dal ko di Mike Tyson contro J.B. Douglas, l'ex campione dei pesi massimi Francesco Damiani rivela a Radio 24 che «su quel ring, quella sera, avrei potuto esserci io, al posto di Douglas, ma il mio manager Umberto Branchini mi disse che non aveva trovato l'accordo sull'ingaggio».
[...]
«Ricordo che commentai il match in tv insieme a Rino Tommasi», ricorda ancora Damiani, che fu campione dei massimi Wbo «e rimanemmo sorpresi come tutti di quell'esito imprevisto e imprevedibile. Ma si vedeva comunque anche in tv che quello di Tokyo non era il miglior Tyson. Come fece Douglas a vincere? Era un peso massimo, e un peso massimo ha la dinamite nei pugni, sempre e comunque: basta un colpo, e sei al tappeto...». «Contro quel Tyson avrei vinto anche io? Impossibile dirlo – sorride Damiani - peccato però non averla avuta, l'occasione di salire sul ring, quella sera»."

http://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/noti...-potuto-esserci-io-143000.shtml?uuid=ABpKtZqC

Sorry that it's in Italian, but this way we can have Damiani's exact words on paper.

 

In a precis:

He said that he could have been fighting Tyson in Tokyo instead of Douglas, but his manager Branchini could not reach a deal with Tyson's people. When asked if he would have beaten Tyson he replies that it is impossible to say but that it was a real pity that he never had the opportunity to find out.

 

Good Lord what a horrible mismatch.

 

Francesco knew he was in for an ass-whupping, so he declined the inevitable.

 

Chuck Norris, great, but overrated. Jet Li would take him.

 

Damiani would have whupped Douglas' ass :deal

 

Damiani always interested me he was a good fighter not great at anyone thing but soild all round he was allways in the background .their was allways talk of big fights against mason and Bruno but they never happened .he didn't look very impressive bit of a belly raw boned big bloke but could fight and box dominant in Europe apart from Bruno and mason .I still wonder about the fights that never happened.

 

True, if he was fighting the version that didn't fight Tyson in March of '90. :good

 

Damiani was one of the better prospects around in the early 90s. But he seemed to lack motivation and the nose injury he suffered against Mercer put an end to his contendership run.

I would have picked him to beat a fair share of top heavyweights around at the time, but I don't think he would have stood much of a chance against Tyson. Would have been one of his better opponents, though.

 

I've always enjoyed Damiani and I reckon he would have given Tyson - especially Tokyo Tyson, and the versions thereafter - a better fight than people think. Botha was handling Tyson through his weight in their match and imho Damiani is way better than Botha, and probably bigger.