In the bout for the vacant Italian Middleweight Title at 110 FPI – Roma Boxing Night, held at the PalaTiziano in Rome, Giovanni “Nino” Rossetti earned a clear unanimous decision over Francesco Faraoni thanks to a magnificent performance. The judges scored the contest 96-94, 97-93, and 97-93. For Rossetti, it marks the second time he has captured the Italian championship belt.
Rossetti was the more authoritative fighter in the opening round. Standing firmly on his feet, the Taranto native landed every meaningful punch of the session, while Faraoni betrayed his nervousness by moving frantically around the ring and receiving no fewer than three verbal warnings for rabbit punches.
“Nino” made the mistake of lowering the pace too much in the second round, allowing Faraoni to come out of his shell and showcase a sharp left jab. However, the momentum shifted again from the third round onward, as Rossetti firmly took control of the fight.
Advancing with small, measured steps and expertly cutting off the ring, the Italian-Cuban boxer pulled ahead and steadily widened his advantage, managing the pace with maturity and intelligence. He never overcommitted, yet never allowed his opponent to impose his own technical skills.
Faraoni spent too much of the fight on the defensive for his punches to have any real impact. Constantly moving backward, the Rome native was unable to generate meaningful power, and his punches looked weak and ineffective, doing little to discourage Rossetti from maintaining his pressure.
From time to time, Faraoni produced a few commendable moments—such as at the end of the fourth round and during the first half of the sixth—but overall his offensive output was too inconsistent and ineffective to seriously challenge Rossetti for most of the rounds.
After the seventh round, the official open scoring accurately reflected Rossetti’s advantage. One judge had him ahead by five points, while the other two had him leading by three. Realizing he had to change the course of the fight, Faraoni was forced into a desperate tactical adjustment.
Over the final three rounds, it was the Rome native who came forward and tried to initiate the exchanges. However, the transformation failed to produce the desired results, partly because fatigue had begun to set in and partly because fighting as the aggressor does not particularly suit his style.
Rossetti therefore had relatively little difficulty neutralizing his opponent’s determined attacks, even finding time to entertain the crowd with a few perfectly timed hands-down slips.
By the final bell, there was no doubt whatsoever about the identity of the winner, despite Faraoni’s rather puzzling decision to raise his fist in celebration after the fight had ended. The judges, however, could hardly agree with him, unanimously awarding the victory to Giovanni Rossetti.
In my opinion, the margins on the scorecards were too narrow, as “Nino’s” superiority was quite evident and deserved to be reflected by wider scores. Nevertheless, what truly matters is that the Italian championship belt went to the boxer who earned it.
Rossetti can now look to the future with great optimism, and we are confident that his trainer, Aldo Quero, will continue working tirelessly to help him improve even further. Perhaps the one area in which he can still make another leap forward is his killer instinct. At times, Nino gives the impression that he does not press his advantage as much as he could, settling for doing just enough even when he has the opportunity to put his foot firmly on the accelerator. But that is also a quality that can be developed with experience.