Who is the greatest Italian fighter of all time ?

rocky marciano 49-0 UNDEFATED HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD. NUFF SAID. second jake lamotta who rocky marciano claimed was the best fighter he ever saw. again nuff said. third joey giardello tony canzeroni and the list goes on and on.

 

Willie Pep Italina American
Dulio Loi Italian Italian

 

ok then how bout tibero mitri?

 

Calzaghe.












joke

 

id say lamotta.....since he beat sugar ray...

 

Nino or...

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Guglielmo Papaleo

 

I'm going by nativity, residency and heritage combined, so for me it comes down to Benvenuti or Loi.

Certainly Nino was more famous. But Loi won two of three from a peak Ortiz in their squabble over the World Light Welterweight Title, losing the first one in the Cow Palace on a split decision against a champion over seven years younger than himself, then sweeping the final two, actually decking Carlos in round six to end their series with the most decisive win of their three at age 32. That final win over Carlos would become historic as the only successful world title defense ever made against Ortiz as a challenger. Their series put that newly revived and previously lightly regarded 140 pound crown on the map, where it has now established over half a century of uninterrupted history. Loi then retired after regaining that championship in a third tryst with conqueror and successor Eddie Perkins, evening their series at 1-1-1.

So far as I can determine, Loi is the first and only world champion with over 100 victories who was never knocked down or defeated by stoppage. He won the final bout with all three opponents who beat him over the championship distance. He had eight draws against different opponents. He avenged five of those draws in rematch wins. Manfred Neuke, Mario Vecchiato and Luigi Male never squared off with him again. Male abandoned the Italian LW Title after his 12 round draw with Loi, who then succeeded Luigi to the vacated title, and his 15 round draw with Vecchiato was the final successful defense of the growing Loi's EBU LW Championship. His draw with Perkins was also a successful defense at LWW.

That brings up another point about how good Loi must have been. He became Italian Champion in 1951, a title he was never defeated for. He lost his first challenge for the EBU Title at 135 to Jorgen Johanson before nearly 17,000 fans in Johanson's Copenhagen, but lifted that title in a rematch at Loi's Milan. He was undefeated in his final 14 EBU Title fights at 135 then 147, posting an overall record of 12-1-2 in these bouts. Only Male (with that 1950 draw), Johanson (in their first match in 1952) and Ortiz (in their first bout) successfully defended against him in his six different title bids.

From mid 1951 until early 1963, Loi was a champion at either the Italian, European or World level. His total record in these title fights spanning about a dozen years was 20-3-4, with 17 successful title defenses and five coronations. Only the great Eddie Perkins ever dethroned him for any title, in Loi's penultimate bout at age 32, after 124 bouts over a period of nearly 14 years. He had just passed that 14 year milestone when he went out a winner over Perkins in December 1962, joining Tunney and Marciano among the then tiny pantheon of competitors who permanently retired as undisputed world champions. (I think the next one may have been Monzon.)

 

there are so many that it is hard to pick one and look:yep:think

 

Any reason why it took him so long to get a world title crack?

 

Possibly because he steered clear of the IBC stranglehold on championship boxing in the United States, confining himself to Europe and in late 1954, Australia. He came to the US twice, to beat Glen Flanagan at Miami Beach in January 1955, then for his first challenge of Ortiz in San Francisco during June 1960. Italy was the top amateur boxing team in the 1960 Rome Summer Olympics, with Benvenuti winning the Val Barker Cup over a field including future world champions Clay and fellow Italian Lopopolo. Italy's three Golds (at FW, WW and HW), three Silvers and one Bronze certainly boosted the credibility of Italian boxing on the world stage, and probably aided Loi's recognition as a beneficiary of what now could be seen as competition of a world class caliber. Italian boxing was now something to be taken seriously. (Italy only won a Silver and a Bronze at Melbourne in 1956.)