Fortunato Manca

Fortunato Manca
Data
Birth Name	Fortunato Manca
Weight class	Welter and Superwelter
nationality	Italian
birthday	December 17, 1934
place of birth	Cagliari
Date of death	December 16, 2008
Place of death	Cagliari
style	Left-hand boom
size	1.65 meters
Combat Statistics
Struggles	83
Victories	70
Knockout victories	31
Defeats	8th
draw	4th
No value	1

Fortunato Manca (born December 17, 1934 in Cagliari , Sardinia , † December 16, 2008 ibid) was an Italian boxer . He was European champion and Italian champion of professional welterweight boxers.

Career

Fortunato Manca, a Sardinian from Cagliari, started boxing at the age of 14. After a short amateur period, from which no outstanding successes are known, he became a professional boxer at the age of 20. At a height of 1.65 meters, he fought in the welter and super welterweight classes. At that time there were many world-class boxers from Sardinia, but almost all of them fought in the very light weight classes of flyweight , bantamweight or featherweight . Fortunato Manca was an exception as a welterweight. He was a powerful fighter with an outstanding physique.

He fought his first fight as a professional boxer on September 16, 1955 in Milan and got a technical knockout victory in the 6th round over his compatriot Luigi Rusano. In 1956 he could not fight because he had to do his military service. In the early years of his career, Fortunato remained unbeaten in 37 consecutive fights. On August 9, 1958, he defeated the German master of this weight class Günter Hase in Cagliari on points.

On May 1, 1960 he fought in Cagliari against Bruno Visintin , who was the defending champion, for the Italian championship in welterweight. The fight ended after 12 rounds a draw, which Visintin retained the championship title. Fortunato Manca achieved a remarkable point victory on September 2, 1961 in Cagliari over Wally Swift , then British and Commonwealth Champion and later European Champion. His fight against the Frenchman Maurice Devilliers on November 4, 1961 in Cagliari was curious, because this fight had to be stopped without result due to torrential rain. On July 15, 1962 Fortunato Manca got the chance to box in Cagliari against his compatriot Duilio Loi for the European championship. In a tough fight in which both boxers went over 15 rounds to the limit of their capabilities, Loi won this fight just on points. On December 14, 1962 Fortunato Manca won in the Palazzetto dello Sport in Rome in the fight for the vacant Italian championship in welterweight over Ferdinando Proietti after 12 rounds on points and thus won his first championship as a professional boxer.

On April 3, 1964, he defended this championship title in Turin with a technical knockout victory in the 7th round over Franco Nenci . On October 9, 1964 Fortunato Manca won the European welterweight title in the Pallazetto dello Sport in Rome with a technical knockout victory in the 6th round over the French François Pavilla . On December 11, 1964, he got the chance to fight for the WBC and WBA super welterweight titles in the Pallazetto dello Sport in Rome against the title holder Sandro Mazzinghi . He lost this fight after 15 rounds on points.

On April 23, 1965 Fortunato boxed Manca in Rome in a non-title fight against the colored American Curtis Cokes and lost this fight after 10 rounds on points. Curtis Cokes was a welterweight who at the time had an unusually hard punch and therefore hardly found any opponents. It is all the more remarkable that Fortunato Manca faced this opponent. Curtis Cokes also became world champion after this fight and held this title for over three years. Just a few weeks after this fight, Fortunato Manca defended his EBU European welterweight title on June 2, 1965 in Madrid by knocking out Carmelo Garcia, Spain in the third round.

On August 31, 1965 Fortunato Manca accepted a fight offer from Thailand and won the welterweight division in Bangkok over Apidej Sithiran on points. After this fight, he was found to be beginning to detach the retina in his eyes. To avoid the risk of blindness, Fortunato Manca ended his boxing career after this fight.

After the end of this career, he lived in Monserrato near Cagliari and ran a boxing studio there, where he mainly took care of the training of young people. He also devoted himself to painting and was also a master in this field.

Title fights as a professional boxer

year	place	Championship title	Weight class	Result
1960	Cagliari	from Italy	Welter	Draw after 12 rounds against Bruno Visintin
1962	Cagliari	of Europe (EBU)	Welter	Point defeat after 15 rounds against Duilio Loi
1962	Rome	from Italy	Welter	Points victory after 12 laps over Ferdinando Proietti, Italy
1964	Turin	from Italy	Welter	Techn. Knockout victory in the 7th round over Franco Nenci
1964	Rome	of Europe (EBU)	Welter	Techn. Knockout victory in the 6th round over François Pavilla, France
1964	Rome	the world (WBC and WBA)	Superwelter	Point defeat after 15 rounds against Sandro Mazzinghi, Italy
1965	Madrid	of Europe (EBU)	Welter	KO victory in the 3rd round over Carmelo Garcia, Spain

Explanations

• EBU = European Boxing Union, WBC = World Boxing Council, WBA = World Boxing Association
• Left-hand arm = the striking hand is the right hand

literature

• Box Sport magazine

Web links

• Fortunato Manca in the BoxRec database
• Fight between Fortunato Manca (trousers with white tucks) against Duilio Loi