Sandro Lopopolo

Olympic medal record
Men's Boxing
Silver Rome 1960 Lightweight

Alessandro "Sandro" Lopopolo (born 18 December 1939, Milan - deceased 26 April 2014, Milan) was an Italian 1959 amateur featherweight and 1960 amateur lightweight boxing champion, and also world boxing champion in the light welterweight division afterwards, when he turned professional, between 1961 and 1973.[1]

Boxing career

Sandro Lopopolo was considered as a hometown favorite for the lightweight division Olympic boxing title at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome where he won the silver medal.[2] At the Olympics, after four easy wins in the early rounds, Lopopolo defeated the Argentine Abel Laudino by split decision in the semifinals to face Pole Kazimierz Paździor in the final. But the experienced Pole dominated the final and won the gold medal by a majority decision. Lopopolo turned professional in early 1961 and had a long and successful professional career. Fighting in the light-welterweight category most of his professional career, Lopopolo won the Italian light-welterweight titles in 1963 and 1965 and held the European and World light-welterweight title from April 1966 to April 1967.[3][4] The Italian great and Olympian silver medalist, won the World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council, welterweight title, with a 15 round decision over the Venezuelan Carlos Morocho Hernández on April 29, 1966, after outpointing his tough opponent. He lost the crown to the Japanese-American Paul Takeshi Fuji on April 30, 1967 by TKO in 2 rounds. He retired with a record of 58 wins (20 KOs), 10 losses and 7 draws. Lopopolo liked to box from a distance and was part of “the golden era” of Italian boxing, with the likes of Nino Benvenuti, Sandro Mazzinghi, Bruno Arcari (boxer) and Carmelo Bossi.[5][6][7]

Preceded by
Carlos Morocho Hernández		 WBA Light Welterweight Champion
29 Apr 1966 – 30 Apr 1967 		Succeeded by
Takeshi Fuji
Preceded by
Carlos Morocho Hernández		 WBC Light Welterweight Champion
29 Apr 1966 – 30 Apr 1967 		Succeeded by
Takeshi Fuji

Personal

The southpaw stylist who was born in Milan, Lombardy, Italy, was a brave fighter. Lopopolo died on Saturday, April 26, 2014,at the age of 74 in Milan, his hometown, due to a complication from a respiratory infection.[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ boxrec.com
  2. ↑ sports-reference.com
  3. ↑ cyberboxingzone.com
  4. ↑ sports-reference.com
  5. ↑ "Pugilato, è morto Sandro Lopopolo. Fu argento olimpico - Tgcom24" (in Italian). Tgcom24.mediaset.it. Retrieved 2014-04-26.
  6. ↑ wbcboxing.com
  7. ↑ fightnews.com
  8. ↑ wbcboxing.com

External links