Rocky Mattioli

Rocky Mattioli
Data
Birth Name	Rocky Mattioli
Weight class	Light middleweight
nationality	Australia
birthday	20th September 1953
place of birth	Ripa Teatina
style	Left delivery
size	1.69 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	73
Victories	64
Knockout victories	51
Defeats	7th
draw	2

Rocky Mattioli (born September 20, 1953 in Ripa Teatina ) is a former Australian professional boxer of Italian origin and former world champion of the WBC in the light middleweight division.

Career

Rocky Mattioli came to Australia at the age of four and grew up in Morwell . He played 30 amateur fights and won the Victoria Lightweight Championship in 1969 . At the age of 17 he switched to the pros and was coached by Arnold Rossi, Ambrose Palmer, Gilberto Biondi and Oscar Minari, among others.

From 1970 until his World Cup chance in 1977 he played 53 fights, including 47 wins, 2 draws and only 4 defeats. He beat a number of important opponents, such as Eddie Perkins in August 1974 unanimously on points, or in April 1975 Billy Backus by knockout. He won another early victory in October 1975 against Jørgen Hansen , before he fought against Bruno Arcari in April 1976 . Other opponents of this time included the two World Cup challengers Mimoun Mohatar and Harold Weston.

In August 1977 he won the WBC title in Berlin by knocking out Eckhard Dagge in the fifth round and defended him in 1978 by knockout against Elisha Obed and José Durán . In March 1979 he lost the title through tKo defeat to Maurice Hope . He fought for a new World Cup chance against Hope in July 1980, but lost to his opponent again prematurely. He ended his career in 1982.

He was inducted into the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame in 2004 and the WBC Hall of Fame in 2012.

predecessor	Office	successor
Eckhard Dagge	World Light Middleweight Boxing Champion ( WBC ) August 6, 1977 - March 4, 1979	Maurice Hope

literature

• Australian Boxing World Champions by Brian S. Ingram

Web links

• BoxRec profile