Angelo Jacopucci

Angelo Jacopucci
Data
Birth Name	Angelo Jacopucci
Weight class	medium weight
nationality	Italian
birthday	December 22, 1948
place of birth	Tarquinia
style	Left delivery
size	187 cm
Combat Statistics
Struggles	36
Victories	33
Knockout victories	7th
Defeats	3
Profile in the BoxRec database

Angelo Jacopucci (born December 22, 1948 in Tarquinia , † July 20, 1978 in Bologna ) was an Italian professional boxer and European Middleweight Champion ( EBU ). He died of the aftermath of a fight against Alan Minter .

Career

Jacopucci was the Italian amateurs champion in 1971 in the light middleweight division and played, among other things, successful international matches against Germany and Ireland. In 1973 he started his professional career and won his first 26 fights. He won the Italian middleweight championship against Luciano Sarti (31-4) in August 1975 and defended the title in January 1976 against Roberto Benacquista (14-2). He also won the European Middleweight Championship on June 4, 1976 in Milan by unanimously winning points over 15 rounds against British title holder Bunny Sterling (34-15). However, he lost the EM belt in his first title defense by losing points to his compatriot Germano Valsecchi (38-5).

In August 1977 he won again the Italian middleweight championship against Mario Romersi (26-2) with title defense against Trento Facciocchi (20-4). On July 19, 1978 he boxed again for the European middleweight title in Bellaria , but was clearly inferior to his British opponent Alan Minter (30-6) and lost after many heavy hits by knockout in the twelfth round. Hours later, he fell into a coma and died the next day of a cerebral haemorrhage .

Trivia

After the fight, Jacopucci's manager, the referee and the ring doctor were charged with manslaughter because, according to the prosecutor, they should have stopped the unequal fight earlier. While the manager and referee were acquitted, in 1983 the ring doctor was convicted of manslaughter in an Italian court. He was sentenced to pay pain and suffering to Jacopucci's widow and was sentenced to eight months probation, but was also acquitted on appeal in 1985.

As a result of the incident, all European championship fights were reduced from 15 to 12 rounds from 1979 onwards and mandatory neurological examinations were sought. In Tarquinia a sports hall and a bicycle race are named after him. The band Kult dedicated a song to him. In 2006 Andrea Bacci published the book L'ultimo volo dell'Angelo Biondo about him.

Web links

• BoxRec profile