Daniele Marco "King Toretto" Scardina

Replete with cornrows, a full complement of tattoos from the waist up (chest, sleeves, neck and even scalp) and perpetual scowl - this kid has the look of your "guy my daughter brings home to dinner" worst nightmare down-pat. He also looks the part of a prizefighter more than perhaps any other young unbeaten Italian besides Fabio Turchi (although I'd place him well below the cruiserweight pound-for-pound; and in terms of skill he makes the somewhat crude Turchi seem like Nino Benvenuti )

Tomorrow he makes a first defense of the IBF super middleweight international title, against the first notable step up in class of his career in countryman Alessandro Murgia "The Highlander" Goddi. Bringing a much higher quantity & quality of experience, the Sicilian-Sardinian has challenged twice (unsuccessfully) for the Euro middleweight title and is a former WBA Continental and WBC International Silver as well as Italian national MW champion.

So far Scardina's best opponents - aside from Ukrainian prospect (using that word loosely) Andrei Velykovsky - have been a pair of Dominican glass cannons, Melvin "The Vermin" Bétancourt and Wilmer "El Lecherito" Mejia. He disposed of the former a round faster than Caleb Truax but a round slower than Spike O'Sullivan (and two rounds over par as compared with Avtandil Khurtsidze), and the latter in shorter order than anyone besides Joel Julio & Grady Brewer in the previous decade.

He idolizes Mike Tyson (whose prime was over before he was even born ) and even has the American heavyweight great's name inked onto his ribs - but he doesn't have a shred of Kid Dynamite's speed or explosiveness. He does appear to be very heavy-handed, and his best punch in terms of technique is a vaguely Tyson-like crowbar uppercut on the inside - but his feed & hands are well below the average velocity for 168lbs. His saving grace is that he works the body fairly well, so he can wear opponents down and open them up thus for head shots - but otherwise anybody with passing fair defense is going to leave him plodding in their dust & whiffing all night long.

I'd say his ceiling would be forcing a domestic showdown with Giovanni De Carolis, who recently took a gift decision over Khoren Gevor. Scardina could maybe win that and become Italy's number one super middle ...though faint praise, as that would make him the big fish in a tiny pond.

Scardina vs. Bétancourt

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Scardina vs. Velykovsky:

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@Somachenko you sniffed out any broadcast details for the Patera vs. Hyland Jnr. card tomorrow (on which Scardina vs. Goddi will be co-main event) ?

 

Odds for tomorrow:

Scardina 1/5
Goddi 10/3
Draw 25/1

Wow. Not sure where the price makers are finding this much faith in Daniele tbh. Fantastic value on Goddi for the upset..