RUSSO WINS IT FOR ITALY
Peter Lerner sees the British Lionhearts push Italia Thunder so close
THE British Lionhearts opened their 2017 World Series of Boxing season with a close and spirited 2-3 away defeat against Italia Thunder. This was always likely to be a tricky task for last year’s runners-up – the Italian franchise had only ever lost once at home since the WSB started in 2010 – but the young Lionheart line-up came close to pulling it off.
The tie was decided by the fifth and final bout of the evening at the Palavespucci in Rome, pitting Thunder captain and four-time Olympian
Clemente Russo against Lionhearts’ Croatian heavyweight Josip-bepo
Filipi. Russo had been out of the ring since the Rio Olympics and, according to Thunder head coach Emanuele Renzini, had had just twenty days of training in the interim. Despite lacking sharpness, Russo was able to draw on his vast experience to control the pace of the fight, smother Filipi’s offence and respond with his own thudding bursts. His unanimous points win (50-45 on all three cards) sealed the victory for the Italians.
The evening opened with a bruising contest at light-flyweight between the imposing Galal Yafai and the talented but inexperienced Federico
Serra. From the first bell it was clear that neither fighter wanted to give any quarter in the centre of the ring. Towards the end of the round the Lionhearts southpaw found the timing and range for his potent left hand, visibly staggering Serra and forcing a standing eight count. At that point it looked like Serra – who started boxing just three-and-a-half years ago – was in deep water. The young Sardinian did well to come back into the contest, mixing his tactics, holding when necessary and having his own successes with his decent right hand. He was perhaps helped by Yafai being a little too overeager at times. However, the Birmingham fighter was bigger, stronger, more varied – his lead right uppercut was particularly pleasing – and he applied intense pressure every round. The impression was that Serra was fighting as hard as possible to stay in there whereas the more comfortable Yafai was looking for a stoppage. This was a bitterlyfought and cracking fight but Yafai was the clear winner, as reflected by the 50-44, 50-45 and 49-46 scores.
Italia Thunder pulled the evening back to one-all in the next bout with ex-european bronze medallist and reigning national champion
Francesco Maietta winning by 50-45 and 49-46 (twice) against
Jack Bateson in a competitive fight at 56kgs. Bateson started the bout looking sharper, more compact and more accurate than Maietta, who was having difficulty with his timing and range. The Italian gradually started to delve into his bag of unorthodox tricks to take over. He used his exaggerated upper body movement, occasional grappling and stop-start attacks to disrupt Bateson’s nice, brisk rhythm. Despite Maietta’s punches being wider and slower, their large trajectory of his punches made them eye-catching when they did land. A good example came in the third round, when the Italian, hands down by his sides, made Bateson miss with a couple of shoulder feints then landed a left hook. It was not necessarily more effective than a Bateson classic one-two but it was the kind of showy flourish that grabs the attention.
The Lionhearts retook the lead on the night when the impressive
Dalton Smith beat Italian national champion Paolo Di Lernia on a split decision (49-46, 48-47 and 47-48) at 64kgs. Smith stamped his authority from the opening bell. Though the Sheffield fighter occasionally neglected his jab and gave up too much of the ring, allowing Di Lernia to gain forward momentum, he looked like a formidable package for most of the fight. Beyond his evident size and strength, he demonstrated composure, adroit movement and sharp, hurtful punching – especially to the body.
In the penultimate match Italian middleweight Salvatore Cavallaro pulled the tie back to 2-2 with victory over old rival Luka Plantic (50-45 and 49-46 twice). Cavallaro avenged a 2013 loss in a Youth tournament in Mostar. The rugged Croatian gave it all he had but was just a little too predictable for the poised southpaw traps of the Italia Thunder fighter. Cavallaro, coming off a shoulder operation and a seven-month layoff, fought in spurts but did a good job of slowing the fight down to his pace and finding a home for straight left and his right hook. Cavallaro’s win prevented the Lionhearts from taking a lead and set up Russo’s grand finale.