Ralf Rocchigiani

Ralf Rocchigiani
Data
Birth Name	Ralf Rocchigiani
Weight class	Cruiser weight
nationality	German
birthday	February 13, 1963
place of birth	Rheinhausen
style	Left delivery
size	1.83 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	58
Victories	42
Knockout victories	17th
Defeats	9
draw	7th

Ralf Rocchigiani (born February 13, 1963 in Rheinhausen ) is a former German boxer who grew up in Duisburg-Hamborn and West Berlin . In terms of sport, he was often overshadowed by his younger brother Graciano , although Ralf Rocchigiani was certified by several experts to be more talented.

Career

amateur

Ralf Rocchigiani boxed like his brother for the Neukölln Sportfreunde , from whom he had also learned boxing, and won 108 of his 125 amateur fights. In 1980 he was German junior champion, in 1982 runner-up in the light heavyweight division. At the European Junior Championships in 1982 in Schwerin , he took third place. He also took part in the European Championships in Varna in 1983 , but failed there in the quarterfinals.

professional

In September 1983 Rocchigiani signed a management contract with Eberhard Thust and a promotional contract with Wilfried Sauerland . He began his professional career on November 5, 1983 with a first-round knockout against Hans Gimborn. After a total of 13 fights without defeat Rocchigiani demanded in December 1984, the German champions in the light heavyweight division , Manfred Jassmann out. Rocchigiani had to admit defeat for the first time in his career after ten rounds by a judge's decision. Half a year later, the two boxers faced each other in a rematch. Here, too, Jassmann was able to keep his title, but only through a draw. After this fight Rocchigiani boxed in August 1985 against Josef Kossmann for the German championship title of the newly introduced weight class of cruiserweight and won by breaking off in the second round.

Despite winning the title, Ralf Rocchigiani was seen as a less ambitious boxer who did not make sufficient use of his potential from the start of his professional career. This first became apparent when Rocchigiani was given the chance to box for an international title in October 1986, after a series of victorious fights against relatively unknown opponents. Opponent was the European light heavyweight champion Alex Blanchard from the Netherlands . But Rocchigiani missed this opportunity because, in the opinion of many observers, he was not making full use of his possibilities. Ultimately, he had to admit defeat on points in an overall colorless fight. At the same event, however, brother Graciano managed to win the German championship against Jassmann, which Ralf Rocchigiani had been denied about a year and a half earlier.

Ralf Rocchigiani then defended the German cruiserweight championship three times, including against his old rival Manfred Jassmann, whom he was able to defeat for the first time. In the spring of 1989 Rocchigiani had the opportunity to fight for the European light heavyweight title. The defending champion was again a Dutchman with Jan Lefeber. Both boxers knew each other well, having faced each other in a non-title fight eight months earlier. While Rocchigiani was able to win the comparison on points at the time, this time the judges' judgment was a draw, with Rocchigiani again missing the European title.

In the following two years Rocchigiani rose a total of four times in the ring, including another successful defense of the cruiserweight title. However, he also suffered two defeats. In May 1991 Ralf Rocchigiani challenged the German heavyweight champion Markus Bott . But like in his two European Championship fights before Rocchigiani had to admit defeat on points again. The Duisburg native's career seemed to be drawing to a close.

In October 1992, however, Ralf Rocchigiani was allowed to box against Tyrone Booze for the first time for a world cruiserweight title. The American was the title holder of the WBO . This world association was founded only three years earlier and did not have the reputation of the three established world associations WBA , WBC and IBF . Therefore, the 33-year-old from Clearwater with a mixed match record of 16 wins from 28 fights compared to the titleholders of the competitive associations was a solvable task. But although Rocchigiani presented a strong performance this time, in contrast to many of his previous appearances, he was again denied an international title. But despite the renewed loss of points, Rocchigiani was at least the moral winner, as he was able to make the fight evenly over long stretches.

In 1994 Rocchigiani, who had meanwhile switched to the Universum boxing promotion , finally lost his German championship title against the then new German hope Torsten May .

Ralf Rocchigiani's time as the main fighter seemed to be over with the loss of the title. When he got the chance on June 10, 1995 to fight the British Carl Thompson in his hometown Manchester for the now vacant WBO cruiserweight title, his defeat was already firmly planned. But in his first professional fight outside of Germany, Rocchigiani bitterly resisted the big favorite. He even managed to knock Thompson down at the beginning of the fifth round, but in the last minute of the same round he had to go down for the first time in his career after a heavy direct hit by his opponent. The German fought his way back into the fight with a special performance. After both boxers had to survive critical phases in the following rounds, Thompson gave up one round before the end of the fight. Although the local hero was unassailable in the lead with all three judges, a shoulder injury made it impossible to continue fighting. With his first international title win, Ralf Rocchigiani was only the second German boxer to win a world championship abroad after Max Schmeling . However, the WBO was not yet one of the major associations at that time.

Rocchigiani defended this title six times, but although many of his opponents failed to prove their class, he could not always convince. Against the 40-year-old Nigerian Bash Ali, for example, the defending champion only retained the world championship belt thanks to a flattering win on points. In the new edition of the duel against Thompson, Rocchigiani missed another sensation over two years after winning the title and this time had to admit defeat by a majority decision after a great fight. On September 18, 1999, Ralf Rocchigiani ended his boxing career after a crash victory in the sixth round over the Czech Andreas Wornowski.

After the boxing career

After the end of his career, Ralf Rocchigiani trained his brother Graciano and also commented on boxing matches on the pay TV channel Premiere . Already in March 1998, when Graciano became world champion against Michael Nunn , Ralf had briefly trained his brother after he had separated from Emanuel Steward a few days before the fight . Rocchigiani also ran a pub on Savignyplatz in Berlin-Charlottenburg , which he had to close in summer 2007. Ralf initially supported his brother Graciano Rocchigiani in setting up his professional boxing stable "Rockys Gym" in Duisburg, where both also looked after boxers Ali Yıldırım and Richel Hersisia. From 2008, however, the two brothers went their separate ways on business. While Graciano concentrated on his company in Duisburg, Ralf continues to live and work as a trainer, u. a. by Thomas Ulrich , in Berlin. He also worked professionally as a driver.

Web links

• Ralf Rocchigiani in the BoxRec database

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Berliner Zeitung: The boxing world champion in soccer goal
2. ^ Homepage of the NSF boxing department
3. ↑ Video: Rocchigiani vs Thompson, June 10, 1995 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX1DAY-3PHU
4. ↑ Joshua's compatriot owned the belts of WBA, IBF and WBC, at that time the WBO was not yet part of the illustrious circle. She has only been there since 2007. Since then, the undisputed champion has had four titles.
5. ↑ https://www.abendblatt.de/archive/1998/pdf/19980323.pdf/ASV_HAB_19980323_HA_019.pdf
6. ↑ www.morgenpost.de - Rocchigiani has to close his boxer bar
7. ↑ Boxstall Universe: What happened to the stars? Retrieved September 22, 2019 . 

predecessor	Office	successor
vacant Dariusz Michalczewski	Cruiserweight Boxing Champion ( WBO ) June 10, 1995 to October 4, 1997	Carl Thompson