Salvatore Burruni

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Salvatore Burruni (11 April 1933 – 30 March 2004), was an Italian flyweight and bantamweight boxer who fought between 1957 to 1969. Burruni was born in Sardinia, Italy, and fought mostly in Europe. He represented his native country at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.

After campaigning for many years, and capturing the European Flyweight championship, Burruni was given a title shot by WBA champion Pone Kingpetch of Thailand. On 23 April 1965, Burruni made the most of his opportunity and captured the crown on a unanimous 15 round decision.

Burruni successfully defended his crown by knocking out Australian Rocky Gatellari, but on 14 June 1966 he lost the championship to Walter McGowan, of Scotland, whom he had defeated previously. By this time the WBA had 'stripped' him of his title for failing to meet the organization's Number One contender, Horacio Accavallo of Argentina.

Unable to make the weight any longer, Burruni moved up to the bantamweight division. He captured the European bantamweight title by taking a 15 round decsiion from champion Mimoum Ben Ali in 1968. His attempt to secure a world bantamweight title shot ended when he was knocked out by all time great Ruben Olivares.

Burruni retired with the outstanding record of 99 wins (32 KOs), 9 losses and 1 draw.