by Paolo Foschi
Having entered the American professional circuit in 2018, three days ago Vianello won by technical knockout against the very strong Arslanbek Makhmudov
After the Olympics without medals (also due to some fault arbitrage not exactly crystal clear), the Italian boxing returns to dream big. And he does it thanks to a Roman boxer who found theAmerica: Guido Vianello30 years old and a very long apprenticeship first as an amateur and then as a professional in the United States, it is no longer just a promise, but aims to conquer the heavyweight crown. An ambitious goal, which however is starting to take shape after the amazing match three days ago to Quebec City against the colossus Arslanbek MakhmudovRussian fighter naturalized Canadian: the Italian, known on social media as The Gladiator, despite the bookmakers’ unfavorable predictions, he won by technical knockout in the eighth round, after having dominated the entire match thanks to his elegant and at the same time effective boxing.
From tennis to the ring, the sporting history of Guido Vianello
«It is clear that the perspectives for me they have changed – he tells Evening Courier, reached by telephone as soon as I returned to Italy from Canada -, I believe that my path will lead me to fight for the world title. The next fight? I think in December, with a high-level boxer who will allow me to continue moving forward.” Guido Vianello is a boxer who is light years away from the stereotypes of this sport: his sporting history does not begin in the degraded suburbs or in the difficult neighborhoods from where many talents of our ring have come out in the past. The Roman boxer in fact grew up in Eur and comes from tennis: before discovering the passion for boxing glovesin fact he challenged the racket under the guidance of his father Fabrizio, federal master and president of the club “Tennis Team Vianello“, at Eur. «To go to the club, I always passed by a gym with the writing “boxing” on my scooter. One day I took courage, stopped and went in». It begins like this, in Boxing Rome XI, boxing career.
The amateur career
«For me it was love at first sight, I was 15 years old, I was 1.95m tall and I was very shy – he recalls Guido Vianello -, Italo Mattiolithe great boxing master Italo Mattioli, as soon as he saw me he made me try immediately. And I was good. My father had initially decided that I would not fight until I was 18, instead three months after entering the gym I took part in my first tournament, and I won it”. Since then the boxer-former tennis player has come a long way. “I went through all the stages from amateur until the Olympicsfor me it was a very formative experience, thanks also to the military companies for which I competed, first the Forestry and then the Carabinieri». Then, seven years ago, the decision to give it a try.
Bob Arum’s Transition to the Pros
“In the boxing, as I see it, you can’t stop at amateurism, you have to try professionalism. And if you really want to do it, you have to go to America or at most to England”. It was 2018 when Guido Vianello entered the Top Rank Boxing by Bob Arum and moves to the United States. “At the beginning it was really hard, I didn’t even speak English very well. But I got down to it, I I believe in work, in effort, in sacrificevalues that my father taught me about tennis court” Today, after six years and after the Covid breakGuido Vianello boasts a record of 15 victories and only one defeat (on points, controversial verdict, against the Nigerian Ajagba).
Projects for the future
Success against Makhmudov he arrived after a period of very intense training followed by his historic coach Simone D’Alessandri: «My friend Francis Ngannou (Cameroonian boxer and martial artist, ed.) lent me his personal lecture in Las Vegasbut it was hell: inside there were 50 degrees of temperature, I suffered a lot, but then I got used to it and it was a great training, working in such extreme conditions». After spending his first years as a professional almost entirely in the USA, today Guido Vianello – net of travel for fights – spends six months in Italy and six more in America. During the Covid break he discovered the passion for the piano («I also study solfeggio») and in the meantime prepares his life after the ring: «I have two exams left for graduate from Luiss in political science, I had a Scholarship. I would like to take care of sports policyI would like to put at the service of the Federation but above all of the young boxers my experience, but above all the working method that I adopted to get where I am, even if I have no intention of stopping here”. And also on the thorny case of the Algerian boxer Kaleh’s faith she has clear ideas: «She was born a woman, for the IOC she is in order to compete and that’s enough, we had to fight without thinking about anything else».
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