Salvatore Fanni

Salvatore Fanni
Salvatore Fanni
Born	July 10, 1964 (age 60); Cagliari, Italy
Nationality	Italian
	Statistics
Weight(s)	Light flyweight ; Flyweight
Stance	Orthodox
	Boxing record
Total fights	44
Wins	33
Wins by KO	17
Losses	9
Draws	2
No contests	0

Last updated November 28, 2024

Salvatore Fanni (born July 10, 1964) is an Italian former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2003. He held the European flyweight title from February 1991 to November 1992, and unsuccessfully challenged for the WBO flyweight title twice, as well as the WBO light flyweight title once.

Professional boxing career

Fanni made his professional debut on April 10, 1988, beating Tunisian fighter Mohamed ben Ali Saidi in Iglesias.^[1] After winning his first 16 fights, he received a shot at the vacant European flyweight title on August 3, 1990, facing Scottish fighter (and future world champion) Pat Clinton in Cagliari. Clinton defeated the Italian by majority decision in what he later called the best performance of his career, saying he was "at the top of [his] game" at the time.^[2]

Less than seven months later, he fought Joe Kelly for the same title (again in Cagliari), stopping him inside a minute in the second round, thus becoming the first Italian to hold the European flyweight belt since Franco Cherchi six years earlier. He successfully defended his title in his next four fights, against Danny Porter, James Drummond, Porter and Michele Poddighe, respectfully.^[1] Fanni finally lost his belt on November 14, 1992, when Welsh fighter Robbie Regan defeated him by unanimous decision in Cardiff. Regan, a future WBO bantamweight champion himself, called Fanni "one of the best [he ever] fought but... also a true sportsman."^[3]

Between 1993 and 1995, Fanni unsuccessfully challenged compatriot Luigi Camputaro for the European flyweight belt on three separate occasions, losing twice and achieving a draw.^[1] On May 31, 1996, in what was only his second fight outside of Italy, Fanni challenged Danish fighter Jesper Jensen for the vacant European flyweight belt in Copenhagen. He lost the bout by unanimous decision after 12 rounds. Jensen later ranked his victory over Fanni as one of his greatest achievements.^[4] Three months later, Fanni defeated Michele Poddighe, winning the vacant Italian flyweight title, although he never defended it.^[1]

By the end of 1996, Fanni had compiled a respectable record of 30-5-2. He finally received his first (of three) world title shots on July 19, 1997, when he matched up against Carlos Gabriel Salazar for his WBO flyweight title in the Italian hamlet of Porto Rotondo. He lost to the Argentine by unanimous decision. His next shot came just over a year later, when he faced Mexican fighter Rubén Sánchez León for the same title in Cagliari. He came away empty-handed though, as he lost to Sánchez León in the same fashion: 12-round UD.

His final world title fight came on April 17, 1999, when he moved down a weight class to challenge 20-year-old Mexican starlet Jorge Arce for his WBO light flyweight belt in Sassari.^[5] Arce defeated Fanni by TKO in the sixth round; it was the first and only time Fanni was ever stopped in his career.^[1] He received one last shot at the European flyweight title on December 3, 1999, losing to Russian fighter Alexander Makhmutov in Milan. He retired after the bout.

Fanni made his return to the ring more than three years later. He faced Mercurio Ciaramitaro in Aversa on May 31, 2003, two months before his 40th birthday, when his boxing license would be rescinded.^[6] In what turned out to be his final fight, Fanni defeated Ciaramitaro by DQ in the fourth round. He finished with a record of 33-9-2.

Professional boxing record

33 Wins (17 knockouts, 16 decisions), 9 Losses (1 knockouts, 8 decisions), 2 Draws^[7]
Res.	Record	Opponent	Type	Rd., Time	Date	Location	Notes
Win	33–9–2	Mercurio Ciaramitaro	DQ	4 (6)	2003-05-31	Aversa, Italy
Loss	32–9–2	Alexander Makhmutov	PTS	12	1999-12-03	Milan, Italy	For European flyweight title
Loss	32–8–2	Jorge Arce	TKO	6 (12), 1:17	1999-04-17	Palazetto dello Sport, Sassari, Italy	For WBO light flyweight title
Loss	32–7–2	Rubén Sánchez León	UD	12	1998-08-02	Cagliari, Italy	For WBO flyweight title
Win	32–6–2	Bela Sandor	PTS	6	1998-08-02	Cagliari, Italy
Win	31–6–2	Gheorghe Ghiompirica	PTS	8	1997-12-20	Sarroch, Italy
Loss	30–6–2	Carlos Gabriel Salazar	UD	12	1997-07-19	Anfiteatro, Porto Rotondo, Italy	For WBO flyweight title
Win	30–5–2	Gabriel Pedro Silva Guerra	TKO	5	1996-10-12	Cagliari, Italy
Win	29–5–2	Michele Poddighe	UD	12	1996-08-22	Aulla, Italy	Won vacant Italian flyweight title
Loss	28–5–2	Jesper Jensen	UD	12	1996-05-31	K.B. Hallen, Copenhagen, Denmark	For vacant European flyweight title
Win	28–4–2	Michele Poddighe	PTS	8	1996-03-16	Decimomannu, Italy
Win	27–4–2	Michele Poddighe	PTS	8	1995-12-28	Quartu Sant'Elena, Italy
Loss	26–4–2	Luigi Camputaro	PTS	12	1995-09-15	Gioia Sannitica, Italy	For vacant European flyweight title
Draw	26–3–2	Luigi Camputaro	PTS	12	1995-06-10	Guspini, Italy	For vacant European flyweight title
Win	26–3–1	Julian Gomez	TKO	5 (6)	1995-04-21	Quartu Sant'Elena, Italy
Win	25–3–1	Jose Ramon Soto	TKO	5 (8)	1994-08-31	Cagliari, Italy
Win	24–3–1	Silverio Porras	TKO	2	1993-12-19	Quartu Sant'Elena, Italy
Loss	23–3–1	Luigi Camputaro	PTS	12	1993-09-22	Oristano, Italy	For vacant European flyweight title
Loss	23–2–1	Robbie Regan	UD	12	1992-11-14	National Ice Rink, Cardiff, Wales	Lost European flyweight title
Win	23–1–1	Mario Alberto Cruz Alfaro	TKO	6	1992-09-19	Montecatini Terme, Italy
Win	22–1–1	Juan Pablo Salazar	PTS	8	1992-07-22	Palazzo dello Sport, Capo d'Orlando, Italy
Win	21–1–1	Michele Poddighe	PTS	12	1992-04-30	Cagliari, Italy	Retained European flyweight title
Draw	20–1–1	Danny Porter	PTS	12	1992-02-12	Sarno, Italy	Retained European flyweight title
Win	20–1	James Drummond	UD	12	1991-11-15	Omegna, Italy	Retained European flyweight title
Win	19–1	Danny Porter	TKO	9 (12)	1991-06-12	Sorso, Italy	Retained European flyweight title
Win	18–1	Joe Kelly	TKO	2 (12), 0:47	1991-02-23	Cagliari, Italy	Won vacant European flyweight title
Win	17–1	Roberto Ledesma	PTS	8	1990-11-16	Tortolì, Italy
Loss	16–1	Pat Clinton	MD	12	1990-08-03	Cagliari, Italy	For vacant European flyweight title
Win	16–0	Roberto Ledesma	DQ	12	1990-06-02	Salice Terme, Italy
Win	15–0	Oscar Dante Reynoso	PTS	8	1990-03-30	Cagliari, Italy
Win	14–0	John Vasquez	PTS	8	1990-01-29	Milan, Italy
Win	13–0	Carmelo Fernandez	KO	3	1989-11-06	Rozzano, Italy
Win	12–0	Julio Osorio	PTS	6	1989-08-05	Porto Columbu, Italy
Win	11–0	Gordon Shaw	PTS	6	1989-07-15	Vigevano, Italy
Win	10–0	Alberto Cantu	KO	4	1989-04-14	Milan, Italy
Win	9–0	Jaime Olvera	KO	2	1989-03-16	Milan, Italy
Win	8–0	Juan Camero	TKO	2	1989-02-11	Guspini, Italy
Win	7–0	Fethi Touati	TKO	5	1988-12-03	Cagliari, Italy
Win	6–0	Fethi Touati	PTS	6	1988-11-22	Milan, Italy
Win	5–0	Tony Smith	KO	1 (6)	1988-10-29	Palatrussardi, Milan, Italy
Win	4–0	David Afan Jones	TKO	3 (8)	1988-10-06	Milan, Italy
Win	3–0	Jose Juarez	KO	2	1988-07-23	Carloforte, Italy
Win	2–0	Cecilio Ramirez	TKO	1	1988-06-04	Cagliari, Italy
Win	1–0	Mohamed ben Ali Saidi	KO	5	1988-04-10	Iglesias, Italy

Personal life

Hailing from Cagliari, Fanni is the twelfth among thirteen siblings. His father was a fisherman while his mother stayed at home.^[8]

After retiring for good in 2003, he settled in the Is Mirrionis district of Cagliari with his wife and three kids, and has spent most of his time volunteering.^[8]

His youngest, Maurizio Fanni, trains to become a boxer like his father. He previously played football with teams such as Kolbe and Gigi Riva but plans to abandon the sport to compete in boxing.

Related Research Articles

The World Boxing Council (WBC) is an international professional boxing organization. It is among the four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Organization (WBO).

Michael Carbajal is an American five-time world boxing champion of Mexican descent. His nickname was "Little Hands of Stone" after his favorite boxer, "Hands of Stone" Roberto Durán.

Jorge Armando Arce Armenta, best known as Jorge Arce, is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2014. He is a multiple-time world champion, and the second boxer from Mexico to win world titles in four weight divisions. In a storied career, Arce held the WBO light flyweight title from 1998 to 1999; the WBC and lineal light flyweight titles from 2002 to 2004; the WBO super flyweight title in 2010; the WBO junior featherweight title in 2011; and the WBO bantamweight title from 2011 to 2012. Additionally he held the WBC interim flyweight title from 2005 to 2006, the WBA interim super flyweight title from 2008 to 2009, and challenged once for the WBC featherweight title in his final fight in 2014.

Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling.

Ricardo López Nava is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 2001. He was a two-weight world champion, having held the WBC mini flyweight title from 1990 to 1998, defending it against a record-breaking 21 opponents; the WBA and WBO mini flyweight titles between 1997 and 1998; and the IBF junior flyweight title from 1999 until his retirement in 2001. He is one of just fifteen world boxing champions to retire without a loss. He is the father of undefeated former boxer Alonso López.

Torres is an Italian football club based in the city of Sassari. It plays in Serie C, the third division of the Italian football league system.

Fernando Montiel Martínez is a Mexican professional boxer. He is a multiple-time former world champion in three weight classes, having held the WBO flyweight title from 2001 to 2002, the WBO junior bantamweight title twice between 2002 and 2008, and the unified WBC and WBO bantamweight titles from 2010 to 2011.

Robbie Regan is a Welsh former professional boxing world champion who competed from 1989 to 1996. He held the WBO bantamweight title in 1996, the IBF interim flyweight title in 1995, and once challenged for the WBO flyweight title in 1995. At regional level, he held the British flyweight title twice between 1991 and 1992, and the EBU European flyweight title twice between 1992 and 1994.

Nonito Gonzales Donaire Jr. is a Filipino American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in four weight classes from flyweight to featherweight, and is the oldest boxer in history to win a bantamweight world title, as well as being the first three-time champion in that weight class. Donaire has also held world championships in three consecutive decades: the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s, being the sixth boxer to do so after Evander Holyfield, Manny Pacquiao, Bernard Hopkins, Erik Morales, and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Geronimo "Gerry" J. Peñalosa is a Filipino former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2010. He is a two-weight world champion, having held the WBC super-flyweight title from 1997 to 1998, and the WBO bantamweight title from 2007 to 2009. Originally from the city of San Carlos, Negros Occidental, Peñalosa currently resides in Manila. He was trained mainly by Freddie Roach, and went on to become a boxing trainer himself after retirement. Peñalosa's older brother, Dodie Boy Peñalosa, is also a former boxer and world champion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donnie Nietes</span> Filipino boxer (born 1982)

Donnie Liboon Nietes is a Filipino professional boxer. He is a world champion in four weight-classes, having previously held the WBO mini-flyweight title from 2007 to 2011; the WBO and The Ring magazine junior-flyweight titles between 2011 and 2016; IBF flyweight title from 2017 to 2018; and the WBO junior-bantamweight title from 2018 to 2019. He is the longest-reigning Filipino boxing world champion, surpassing in 2014 the record set in 1967 by Boxing Hall of Fame inductee Gabriel "Flash" Elorde. He was one of the first three Asian fighters with world titles in at least four weight classes alongside fellow Filipinos Manny Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire.

Patrick "Pat" Clinton is a Scottish former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 1994. He held the WBO flyweight title from 1992 to 1993. At regional level, he held the British flyweight title from 1988 to 1999, and the EBU European title in 1990.

Paul Weir is a Scottish former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2000. He was a world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBO mini-flyweight title in 1993 and the WBO junior-flyweight title from 1994 to 1995.

John Riel Reponte Casimero is a Filipino professional boxer and YouTuber. He has held world championships in three weight classes; including the IBF junior-flyweight title from 2012 to 2013; the IBF flyweight title in 2016; and the WBO bantamweight title from 2019 to 2022. Quadro Alas is Tagalog for four of a kind when translated, his moniker means Four Aces.

Zolani Tete is a South African professional boxer. He is a former two-weight world champion, having held the IBF junior-bantamweight title from 2014 to 2015 and the WBO bantamweight title from 2017 to 2019.

Joseph Kelly is a Scottish former boxer who won the ABA title and the Commonwealth Games silver medal at flyweight in 1982, and after turning professional was British bantamweight champion in 1992.

Sho Kimura is a Japanese professional boxer who held the WBO flyweight title from 2017 to 2018.

Sunny Edwards is a British professional boxer who held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) flyweight title from 2021 to 2023. He is the younger brother of former flyweight world champion and current European bantamweight title holder, Charlie Edwards.

References

1 2 3 4 5 Giallara, Giuseppe (26 April 2003). "Fanni al rientro: "Un anno e smetto"" (in Italian). La Nuova Sardegna . Retrieved 25 April 2017.
↑ "Clinton rolls with past punches". The Scotsman. 20 October 2002. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
↑ Jones, Michael J. (20 November 2013). "Robbie Regan on dramatic career "I should have been setting myself up for life not retiring"". livefight.com. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
↑ "Jesper D. Jensen: Ceylan must prove he has the heart of a Champion". Boxing News 24. 6 October 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
↑ Giallara, Giuseppe (24 March 1999). "Fanni-Arce mondiale a Sassari" (in Italian). La Nuova Sardegna . Retrieved 26 April 2017.
↑ Giallara, Giuseppe (4 August 2003). "La mia vita di pugni e speranze" (in Italian). La Nuova Sardegna . Retrieved 26 April 2017.
↑ "Salvatore Fanni Professional boxing record". BoxRec . Retrieved April 12, 2017.
1 2 Girau, Mario (27 November 2006). "Dal ring della boxe a quello della vita" (in Italian). La Nuova Sardegna . Retrieved 19 April 2017.

External links

Boxing record for Salvatore Fanni from BoxRec (registration required)
Profile on iscali.it (in Italian)

Sporting positions
Regional boxing titles
Vacant Title last held by Pat Clinton	EBU Flyweight Champion February 23, 1991 – November 14, 1992	Succeeded by Robbie Regan

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[Return-1] 1 2 3 4 5 Giallara, Giuseppe (26 April 2003). "Fanni al rientro: "Un anno e smetto"" (in Italian). La Nuova Sardegna . Retrieved 25 April 2017.

[2] "Clinton rolls with past punches". The Scotsman. 20 October 2002. Retrieved 22 April 2017.

[3] Jones, Michael J. (20 November 2013). "Robbie Regan on dramatic career "I should have been setting myself up for life not retiring"". livefight.com. Retrieved 25 April 2017.

[4] "Jesper D. Jensen: Ceylan must prove he has the heart of a Champion". Boxing News 24. 6 October 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2017.

[5] Giallara, Giuseppe (24 March 1999). "Fanni-Arce mondiale a Sassari" (in Italian). La Nuova Sardegna . Retrieved 26 April 2017.

[6] Giallara, Giuseppe (4 August 2003). "La mia vita di pugni e speranze" (in Italian). La Nuova Sardegna . Retrieved 26 April 2017.

[7] "Salvatore Fanni Professional boxing record". BoxRec . Retrieved April 12, 2017.

[Gelocal-8] 1 2 Girau, Mario (27 November 2006). "Dal ring della boxe a quello della vita" (in Italian). La Nuova Sardegna . Retrieved 19 April 2017.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]