By James Slater: Tonight, in Pavia, Italy, thirty-seven year old Giacobbe Fragomeni met the six years younger Vincenzo Rossitto in an all-Italian match-up that contested the vacant European Union cruiserweight championship. Both men had previously been in with the big punching David Haye – Fragomei losing in the ninth round of a terrific battle in November of last year, and Rossitto losing much quicker, in two rounds, back in 2005. Both Italian warriors had regrouped after losing to “The Hayemaker,” however – with Vincenzo wining four fights, three by KO, And Giacobbe gaining a sole victory, by KO, since he’d come oh, so close to defeating Haye in a great fight..
With much ambition still in the pair of them, tonight’s fight was expected to be a decent encounter. For the winner, the older man in Fragomemi, the bout turned out to be a very hard-fought win one. Giacobbe, now 23-1(10) proved he does indeed have quite a lot left to offer, even at the age of thirty-seven. How much this gruelling fight took out of him, and his beaten opponent for that matter, remains to be seen, however. At the end of twelve tough and very watch able rounds, Fragomeni won via a unanimous decision. Scores were 118-113, 117-112 and 117-113.
The fight started out in typical Fragomeni fashion, as he immediately went on the attack and made the ring smaller for his rival and southpaw Italian. Covered in tattoos, Giacobbe won five of the first six rounds of the bout with his all-out aggression. Shockingly, by the second round, Rossitto’s mouth was hanging open and, despite winning round number two, there was no way I thought he’d last. To his credit, however, Vincenzo did battle back after getting his second wind. He switched stance a few times in the contest, too, trying to confuse Fragomeni.
The seventh was an even round for me – a round in which an accidental head clash made Rossitto turn away. Luckily, though, there was no damage to either man – nor was any point taken away. I gave Vincenzo the eighth, as Giacobbe appeared to be taking his foot off the gas. He was feeling the pace now as well. Really, the fight was a most draining affair for both men – especially as the two boxers are in their mid-thirties.
In the tenth it looked like fragomeni had nothing left. His arms were dangling by his sides and there was nothing on his punches. Who would make it to the finish line? Both men crossed it, but it appeared very close when looking at who had done enough to get the verdict. I had it 7-4 and 1 even for Fragomeni. The three officials had it wider, but this didn’t detract from how good and competitive a fight it had been. There were no knockdowns and neither man was seriously wobbled, but both warriors played their part in a terrific bout that contested the vacant European Union title.
Fragomeni was made to work extremely hard in winning the title that is a step below the real European championship. How much he will have left after going through what he did tonight, though, is anyone’s guess.
The winner scored his twenty-third victory, while the loser lost for the fifth time in a forty-one fight career (2 draws).
While on tonight’s under-card, former IBF welterweight champion, Michele Piccirillo of Italy, won an easy six round decision victory over thirty-four year old Frenchman, SylvainTouzet at light-middleweight. The thirty-seven year old Piccirillo, who fans will no doubt remember for his fights with Cory Spinks (a points win and a points loss for the IBF 147 pound strap) and Ricardo Mayorga (a points loss for the WBC light-middleweight belt) is reportedly in the running for a shot at new WBC 154 pound champ, Vernon Forrest.
Tonight, the former champ looked smooth and classy as he had way too much skill and experience for Touzet. The fourth round was the best of the fight. Hurt early in the round by a combination upstairs, the ruggedly live opponent in Sylvain came fighting back himself. Michele was always one step ahead of him, though, and won a 60-54 shut-out on my card. Piccirillo improved to 48-3(30) with his tune-up victory over the very game Touzet, who fell to 9-16(4).
While thirty-six year old Italian, Gianluca Branco, former ring foe of both Arturo Gatti and Miguel Cotto in world title fights at 140 pounds, got a decent and reasonably competitive tune-up type fight when he met twenty-nine year old Arek Malek of Poland in a scheduled six rounds at light-welterweight. Branco, despite not having boxed for nine months, looked quite sharp as he won a clear-cut decision over his overmatched opponent, who has not had a win now in his last twelve ring appearances. Still, the Polish man came to fight, and at least made things somewhat uncomfortable for Branco at times.
Indeed, The Italian never stopped moaning throughout. Claiming his opponent was using his head illegally, Gianluca looked to the ref almost constantly. He was cut over the left forehead in round four, but the damage was caused accidentally and no point was taken away from Malek. The fight was not at all boring and the twenty-nine year old deserves credit for giving it a good go. I had Branco winning all six rounds, however. Apparently, a fight between Branco and the U.K’s Colin Lynes, for the European 140 pound title, is in the works for the Autumn. Giancula improved to 38-2-1(20). Malek fell to 4-10-2(3).