Continued from: PART ONE
Rocky Mattioli
Clemente Russo? Again? What do the sports doctors say about it, do they allow it? The beautiful side of boxing is gone… Boxing is something you have to do when you are young, because when you are young it is a completely different thing. Once you reach a certain age, boxing becomes tough, difficult. You do not recover in time, you struggle to make weight, you do not sleep well…
Old age is a nasty thing. I think that, for boxing, 44 is a lot. He is not George Foreman, he is not Sonny Liston, he is not one of those guys.
I never liked him as a boxer, but that does not mean anything. If he became world champion and Olympic silver medallist, then obviously he was very good as an amateur. But being an amateur is not the same as being a professional.
I do not know how it will go, we will have to see him in the ring. Maybe he looks good in the gym, but only during the fight will we see whether he is fit for it or not. In my opinion, he is a little too old to start again after so many years. He is a good guy, but his boxing is more suited to amateur boxing than to the professional game.
I have nothing to tell him, because it is his life, his body, and he can do whatever he wants with it.
Vincenzo Nardiello
In my opinion, only he can decide whether to fight or not. I think he knows what his own body is telling him, but at the same time I will also say that making a comeback at his age involves risks. Only the ring will tell us whether he made the right or wrong decision, unless this fight is being staged purely for entertainment and visibility, and you know what I mean. In any case, I sincerely wish him all the best. Who knows what the ring will tell us.
Valerio Nati
Clemente Russo is still a physically intact boxer, also because he has never taken severe punishment. I wish him a successful comeback!
Vincenzo Picardi
I have enormous respect for Clemente Russo. We are boxers from the same era: we went to many Olympic Games together, from Athens through to Rio. He was a great amateur athlete and won a huge amount, but what he is doing now is something he should have done earlier. The same applies to me, so I understand him, because back then there were different dynamics.
All boxers are attracted to the professional game. I remember that ever since I was a child, professional boxing fascinated me, and even today I prefer it to amateur boxing. In my opinion, Clemente is fulfilling a personal desire, giving himself a sense of satisfaction. He wants to test himself, and even though he is 44, he wants to try. Evidently there is still a fire inside him that makes him believe he still has something to give.
In my opinion, the main problem is not so much his age, because he has always lived like an athlete. The bigger issue will be the five years he has spent away from the ring. I think an active athlete always has an advantage. I have always stayed sharp and kept fighting, but even though I train every day, if I do not compete for a year or a year and a half, when I get back in the ring I lose certain mechanisms. Imagine after five years! So that is the aspect that will work against him. On the other hand, we are still talking about a great athlete who won the world championships twice. Whoever steps into the ring against him will certainly want to make a name for himself: a fight against Clemente is a huge showcase. I hope it is a good fight for both of them and, since he has always been a champion, I hope Clemente gets the win.
Michele Piccirillo
In my opinion, coming back to the ring at 44 after years of inactivity is a mistake. It is very difficult and also dangerous, because when you are facing a 27- or 28-year-old, it is not easy to keep the situation under control. As time passes, you lose some speed, you lose your eye for punches, you lose many little things that may seem unimportant but are actually very significant. In boxing you both give and take punches, so pushing things too far with age is very dangerous. If I were in his position, I would not have made this comeback; I stopped boxing at 40, so I know what it means.
Cristian Sanavia
I am a former boxer now, I am 51, but if I still had the strength and if I were physically well — unfortunately sport has destroyed my body — I would get back in the ring. But I would be a joke.
As for Clemente Russo, well, when it is in your blood, it is hard to stop. Anyone who is used to the hard work and sacrifices of boxing never wants to stop, they always want to keep going. He had enormous success in his career, he competed at the Olympics, he won the World Championships, and now he is also a national team coach, so he has nothing to prove to anyone.
The fight is not difficult. I am convinced he will win it with one hand in his pocket. Of course, he is 44 and has been inactive for quite a while, but if he has decided to come back, I am sure he will make a good impression.
Andrea Sarritzu
We are not in Las Vegas or America where you put on these big publicity shows. The FPI has always distinguished itself from the rest of the world through its protection of the individual athlete, especially from a medical and health standpoint.
In my opinion, the current president has been getting things wrong for quite a while now: this is a pointless, crazy, wrong match, and it is damaging in terms of publicity for such a noble sport. It is also disrespectful toward the great champions of the present and the past who are currently looking for support, and perhaps even some help, because when they stopped boxing they did not know how to face the reality of life.
Matteo Signani
Nobody can tell you what you can or cannot do. Everyone has to make their own decisions, obviously while respecting everyone else. By going out there to fight, he is not hurting anyone. If he feels up to it and if he is in good condition, even though he is 44, he is free to do it.
I will never criticize him. The only thing I would tell him is: “Train. Do not go there just for a stroll, just to get people talking about you.” Where we come from in Romagna, we say, “Do not be a fool.” That is what you must not do. If you step into the ring, you have to do it seriously, at the absolute best of your ability, and you cannot neglect anything.
Then it will still be a success, especially for yourself, because you tested yourself, gave everything you had and got to experience once again those moments that only the ring can give you. He was a great amateur champion and if he wants to have this comeback fight, it will give him a huge amount of emotion.
The only problem is that the Federation treats people differently, because I was close to the age limit, around 44 or 45, and I wanted to have one final fight; they told me I could not fight anymore. But here, as if by magic, they changed some of the rules. Maybe that is not entirely fair, because you change the rules for him and not for me, not for some but for others… Either you apply the rules equally to everyone, or you accept responsibility if people criticize you. That is all.
Clemente, however, has nothing to do with that issue. I wish him the very best of luck, I hope everything goes well, and above all I hope he gets into the ring at the absolute best of his ability. Whether he wins or loses is another matter; his opponent certainly will not just stand there watching him. The important thing is that Clemente is medically cleared and properly checked, because boxing is not a game. Having said that, may the best man win!
Maurizio Stecca
Unfortunately, nowadays someone wakes up in the morning and does whatever they feel like; everything is outside the norm. I have nothing against Clemente. I had him as an athlete in the youth national squads when I was a national team coach. He developed under me and then became an elite boxer.
We know Clemente’s personality. Between movies, television shows, this and that, you find him everywhere. When these personalities throw themselves into so many things, they do it because deep down they think that if they are not constantly being noticed, people will forget about them. They always have to find some way of making sure people talk about them.
But he is the technical director of the boxing division of the Fiamme Azzurre, and that alone comes with responsibility. Then he was appointed head coach of the Elite National Team. Now he will have to train to fight in November, and in that same month there will be several official commitments for the national teams… Facinelli used to tell us, “You have to be national team coaches and that is it. You are not supposed to go here and there unless we send you.”
Clemente is already well known, he has his job, what else does he have to prove? In my opinion, he has a desire to prove something to those who ask why he never turned professional. He wants to show them that, besides having been a champion as an amateur, he can also be good as a professional. But he should have turned professional at the right time, as we did.
Paolo Vidoz
Honestly, if he feels fit and feels ready to fight, I do not see anything wrong with it. I think that, with his experience, he has surely studied his opponent and knows what he is getting into. If he is doing it to fulfil a personal desire, that is fine. I do not know whether he will continue as a professional afterwards, but if someone wants to fulfil a personal ambition, he should be free to do what he wants.