He should have honkered down and tried to reach the final bell to collect a decision. People at the fight could see it from the nosebleeds. But he didn’t, and never sniffed the top of the heavyweight division.
I think he had a good career, plus was an Olympic Silver Medalist, and was the first heavyweight to hold the WBO belt. He was a very sound technical boxer, who I think on any given night could give just about anyone a good fight.
I remember when du Plooy went to fight Damiani. Johnny was seen as the local hard hitting golden boy and for sure as an eyetie I was gonna get a roasting at school when he inevitably splattered the fat Italian all over the canvas. I never saw the fight but knew something was up when nobody so much as talked about boxing at school the next day. Good ole Damiani, thanks for that performance Let's check it out: This content is protected To recap: yes I think Damiani could have gone further. He was handsomely outboxing Mercer before the stoppage, and he was ordinarily quite a durable fighter. He had a lot of size, good stamina and a good all-round skillset, he could do a bit of everything. I think he'd have given Tyson a good fight too, but alas we never saw it.
i just watched the ray mercer vs francesco damiani fight for the first time and i cant believe what i saw! he was winning just about every exchange!
Sammy the Bull Gravano talked about Damiani in his podcast. Apparently the Mafia had big plans for Damiani getting a big fight vs Tyson down the road which would've made them a bundle of money. Interestingly the Mafia thought Damiani would beat Mercer easily and that they didn't even believe they had to ask Mercer to throw the fight. And for most of the fight it appeared their judgement was right until Mercer landed that uppercut on the tip of the nose and the rest is history. I know the Mafia lost alot of money after that fight and it ruined their plans for a future fight with Tyson. This content is protected
Some may remember that Francesco Damiani was scheduled to fight Evander Holyfield for the title in Evander’s hometown of Atlanta. A week or less before the fight, Damiani was injured in training (I want to say he sprained his ankle). In walks Bert Cooper on very short notice and engages Evander in a shootout that’s as good as any in heavyweight title history. Damiani came up short from nose to toes.
I was very interested in him as a young fan. Didn't look the part which made him more interesting. I was hoping that he would meet mason or Bruno in a all Euro clash.
Was actually looking forward to him fighting Tyson,he was apart from Tommy Morrison the only decent white heavyweight around at the time. Who knows how he'd have done, maybe wins a few rounds off of him before Tyson rips in a killer uppercut.