Sandro Mazzinghi

Alessandro “Sandro” Mazzinghi was an Italian super-welterweight who became a two-time world champion and one of his country’s leading fighters during the prosperous European boxing years of the 1960s. Born in Pontedera, Tuscany, on October 3, 1938, he stood 5ft 8in, fought from an orthodox stance and had a recorded reach of 72½in. His professional ledger reads 64 victories, three defeats and two no-contests from 69 appearances, with 42 wins inside the distance. All three recognised losses came against high-class opposition, and only Nino Benvenuti stopped him.

Boxing was already established in the Mazzinghi family. Sandro’s elder brother Guido represented Italy at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics and became the Italian professional middleweight champion. Guido also helped guide his younger brother’s development. Sandro missed selection for the 1960 Rome Olympics after being beaten in the trials by Carmelo Bossi, but he gained an international amateur distinction the following year by winning the military world championship in the United States. His amateur background was not as celebrated as Benvenuti’s Olympic career, yet it provided the foundations for a professional style based upon physical strength, pressure and forceful two-handed punching.

Mazzinghi made his professional debut in Florence on September 15, 1961, stopping Severino Gagliardi in the second round. He was associated with the Ignis stable, supported by industrialist Giovanni Borghi, and advanced quickly through regular appearances in Florence, Milan, Rome, Bologna, and other Italian centres. The matchmaking was typical of the period: experienced domestic opponents were mixed with imported fighters accustomed to working on the road. Mazzinghi’s early knockout sequence immediately marked him as a crowd attraction. He was not a boxer who sought to steal rounds with occasional flourishes. He advanced behind a firm guard, accepted punches to deliver his own, and produced his best work with hooks and short rights at close range.

His progress was interrupted by a points defeat against the experienced Sardinian Gino Melis in April 1962, but it proved an isolated reverse rather than a serious setback. Mazzinghi won his next 19 contests and was chosen to challenge Ralph Dupas for the recently established world light-middleweight championship without first having boxed for the Italian title. Dupas was a seasoned American who had fought leading welterweights and middleweights and had won the championship from Denny Moyer. Their contest at Milan’s Vigorelli Velodrome on September 7, 1963, placed Mazzinghi before a large home audience and confirmed that he belonged at world level. Fighting through a troublesome cut, he stopped Dupas in the ninth round to become only the fourth Italian, after Primo Carnera, Mario D’Agata and Duilio Loi, to win a recognised world championship.

Dupas exercised his right to a return in Sydney three months later. Mazzinghi travelled to Australia and again won decisively, knocking out the former champion in the thirteenth round. He subsequently defended against Tony Montano, stopping him in twelve rounds, and Fortunato Manca, whom he outpointed over 15 rounds. Between championship engagements he remained active against hard and experienced men such as Gaspar Ortega and Isaac Logart. Ortega, a veteran of more than 160 contests, was dropped in both the fifth and sixth rounds before retiring, while Logart was stopped in five in their first meeting and beaten on points in the return. Those opponents were no longer at their peak, but they were knowledgeable professionals capable of exposing a champion who lacked patience or stamina.

Mazzinghi’s first reign was conducted in difficult personal circumstances. In 1964 he was seriously injured in a road accident in which his wife Vera, whom he had married only days earlier, was killed. He suffered a fractured skull and was at one stage in critical condition. His return to championship boxing was therefore a considerable physical undertaking, although it also fed the lasting debate over the condition in which he entered his first meeting with Benvenuti. By June 1965, Benvenuti was unbeaten in 56 professional fights and had become the polished public figure of Italian boxing. Mazzinghi was the more rugged personality and the more aggressive fighter. Their contrast in background, manner and method made the contest a national event.

The first fight took place at Milan’s San Siro Stadium on June 18, 1965. Mazzinghi applied pressure and attempted to force Benvenuti into sustained exchanges, but the challenger’s sharper timing and straighter punching gradually took command. A decisive uppercut in the sixth round left Mazzinghi open to the finishing attack, and he was knocked out after 2min 40sec. It was his first stoppage defeat and cost him the WBA and WBC championships. The return was staged at the PalaEur in Rome on December 17. Mazzinghi was floored in the second round but recovered to provide a far closer and more demanding contest. Benvenuti nevertheless retained the title by unanimous decision after 15 rounds, leaving Mazzinghi with three defeats on his record and apparently behind his rival in the Italian hierarchy.

Mazzinghi responded by rebuilding his career rather than drifting into the role of former champion. In June 1966 he stopped Yoland Lévêque in the twelfth round to win the European super-welterweight championship. He defended it four times, and each defence ended inside the distance. Sweden’s Bo Högberg was stopped in the fourteenth round in Stockholm, Jean-Baptiste Rolland in ten, Britain’s Wally Swift in six and Jo Gonzales in four. The European championship then carried substantial weight, particularly in divisions where leading fighters could fill major indoor arenas. These victories restored Mazzinghi’s standing and demonstrated that the defeats by Benvenuti had not exhausted him.

His second opportunity at the world championship came against South Korea’s unbeaten Ki Soo Kim, the man who had taken the title from Benvenuti. Their match at San Siro on May 26, 1968, drew a reported crowd of about 60,000. Mazzinghi was nearly 30 and had endured several taxing contests, but he maintained his pressure through 15 demanding rounds and won the decision. It was the most substantial achievement of his later career: a victory over an unbeaten reigning champion, before an enormous crowd, five years after first winning the title and three years after losing twice to Benvenuti.

The second reign ended in controversy. Mazzinghi met Freddie Little in Rome on October 25, 1968. Little was a capable American contender and was leading while inflicting considerable damage. Mazzinghi suffered a severe cut near the right eyebrow after a clash, and the contest was initially handled in a manner which caused widespread confusion. The eventual ruling was a no-contest in the eighth round, allowing Mazzinghi temporarily to retain the championship. The authorities subsequently stripped him, and Little later won the vacant title by defeating Stanley Hayward. The affair did Mazzinghi no favours because the verdict appeared to protect the home champion when he was in difficulty, although the official record remains a no-contest rather than a defeat.

Another no-contest followed against Wilfredo Hurst in 1969, after which Mazzinghi boxed five more times between December 1969 and October 1970. Those appearances included wins over Harry Scott, Eddie Pace and Willie Warren, but there was no further world-title campaign. He left boxing in 1970, then returned after seven years for three modest contests in 1977 and 1978. He won them all, finishing with a victory over Jean-Claude Warusfel in Florence on March 4, 1978. The comeback added little to his standing but did not damage his record, and he retired permanently at 39.

Mazzinghi’s reputation rests upon more than his rivalry with Benvenuti, although those two fights inevitably occupy an important place in Italian boxing history. Benvenuti was the more accomplished pure boxer, but Mazzinghi built a significant career of his own. He twice defeated Ralph Dupas, beat Ki Soo Kim to regain the world championship and ruled Europe through four stoppage defences. His record also contains experienced names such as Logart, Ortega, Manca, Högberg, Swift and Little. He was physically strong, hit hard enough to record 42 stoppages and possessed the stamina required for the 15-round championship distance. Cuts were a recurring problem, and his attacking style often required him to absorb punishment while closing the distance, but he remained effective because his pressure was organised and his punches carried weight.

Mazzinghi spent his later years in Tuscany and remained closely identified with Pontedera. His life and career became the subject of books, documentaries and theatrical productions in Italy. He died in Pontedera on August 22, 2020, aged 81, after suffering a series of ischaemic attacks following a short period in hospital. His final professional figures were 64 wins, three defeats, no draws and two no-contests, with 42 knockouts. He was a world champion in two separate reigns, a European champion and one of the central figures of an era when major boxing matches could command Italian football stadiums.