Giorgio Campanella

Giorgio Campanella, an Italian super featherweight and lightweight, competed professionally from 1990 to 2000 and challenged three times for a world championship. Born in Crotone, Calabria, on 20 February 1970, he finished with 29 victories, six defeats and one draw, including 21 wins by knockout. An orthodox boxer with an accomplished amateur background, he won the Italian super featherweight championship before facing Oscar De La Hoya, Regilio Tuur and Artur Grigorian in WBO title contests abroad.

Campanella began boxing at ten in a small Crotone gym, encouraged by his admiration for Muhammad Ali. His progress was rapid. He became Italian amateur lightweight champion in 1986, aged sixteen, and won the European junior championship at light welterweight in Gdańsk in 1988. Later that year he represented Italy at lightweight in the Seoul Olympics. He stopped Uruguay’s Daniel Freitas in the third round of his opening contest, then lost unanimously to East Germany’s Andreas Zülow, who went on to win the gold medal. Campanella subsequently joined the police sports group Fiamme Oro, regained the Italian amateur championship in 1989 and earned a bronze medal at that year’s European Championships in Athens. His recorded amateur tally was 83 wins and seven defeats.

His professional debut came in Milan on 15 October 1990, with a second-round stoppage of Mwilambwe Tshikala. Managed by Salvatore Cherchi, Campanella built an unbeaten run through domestic shows and appearances elsewhere in Europe. His early opposition included experienced British fighters Alan Peacock, Tony Foster and Karl Taylor, all beaten inside the distance. On 4 June 1993, he stopped Paziente Adobati in six rounds at Macomer to win the Italian super featherweight championship. He defended against Michele La Fratta and then outpointed Adobati in their return meeting in January 1994. By the time his first world title opportunity arrived, he had won twenty consecutive professional contests.

The defining international appearance of his career came against De La Hoya at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on 27 May 1994. Campanella challenged for the WBO super featherweight championship and immediately disturbed the unbeaten champion’s plans, putting him down with a left hook in the opening round. De La Hoya recovered, dropped Campanella in the second and again in the third, and forced his corner to throw in the towel. Referee Joe Cortez stopped the contest after 38 seconds of the third round. Campanella later explained that he had fractured his right hand during sparring shortly before travelling to America. Working with trainer Franchino Cherchi, he had concentrated on slipping De La Hoya’s right and answering with the left hook that produced the knockdown. The defeat ended his unbeaten record, but the opening-round incident remained the most widely remembered moment of his professional career.

His subsequent results were less consistent. Boris Sinitsin defeated him by technical decision in October 1994, although Campanella returned with a stoppage victory over Angel Vargas in Atlantic City the following March. An eight-round draw with Jean-Michel Moulun in Dortmund and a fourth-round knockout of Manuel Avila preceded his second world championship challenge. On 23 December 1995, he faced WBO super featherweight champion Regilio Tuur at the RAI in Amsterdam. Campanella completed the twelve rounds, but Tuur won clearly: Dave Parris scored it 119–109, Roberto Ramirez Sr 119–111 and Jose Roberto Torres 118–110. Campanella later recalled that a knee problem had restricted his preparation. Whatever the difficulties beforehand, the result left him without a world title after two attempts at 130 pounds.

Campanella moved into lightweight competition and defeated Smal Jakupi and Carlos Pena in 1996, before losing an eight-round decision to the unbeaten Oscar Garcia Cano in Milan. Stoppage wins over Lajos Nagy and Johnny Diaz Lebron followed in 1997. His third world title challenge took him to Hamburg on 24 October 1998 to meet Grigorian, the unbeaten WBO lightweight champion. Grigorian retained the championship by stopping him at one minute and 36 seconds of the tenth round. The champion had established a decisive lead, with two judges scoring the nine completed rounds 90–81 and the third 90–82. In a later account, Campanella described diminished motivation and preparation without sparring before the contest. He also said that Grigorian subsequently encouraged him to relocate to Germany, but family responsibilities influenced his decision to remain in Italy.

Four more contests completed his professional career. He knocked out Joao Andrade Queijas in the first round in March 1999, then lost to Massimo Bertozzi in an Italian lightweight championship contest at Arezzo the following month. Victories over Antonio Mastantuono and Djamel Ibaghracene followed in 2000, the latter a fourth-round stoppage in Rome on 26 December. Campanella retired without a world championship, but with an Italian professional title, substantial amateur honours and experience against three established WBO champions. His punch was a significant asset, particularly the left hook, and his early succession of stoppage victories demonstrated its effectiveness. In retirement, he acknowledged that making the super featherweight limit had become demanding and had affected his ability to reproduce his amateur punching form.

Campanella remained in boxing as a trainer. He waited nine years after finishing his fighting career before obtaining his coaching qualification, explaining that he first needed to stop regarding himself as an active boxer. He later settled in Tenerife, where he opened a gym and became involved in training fighters and organising boxing events. His family includes his wife Graziana and their two sons, Manuel and Daniel. His work after retirement has continued the practical involvement in the sport that began in Crotone, developed through the Italian amateur system and took him to championship rings in Las Vegas, Amsterdam and Hamburg.