IN MEMORY OF DUILIO LOI

[KSTAT124]

I was saddened this morning to read of the death of one of boxing's great, sadly forgotten world champions, Duilio Loi.

Loi was born in Trieste, Italy on April 19, 1929. He lived most of his life in Milan.

On November 1, 1948, the then 19-year-old Loi made his professional debut winning a 6-round decision over Nino Frangioni. It was the first of 126 professional bouts Loi would fight and the first of 115 victories. He would taste defeat only 3 times over the next 14 years.

Duilio ran off a streak of 17 consecutive wins including an 8-round decision over fellow unbeaten Italian prospect Nicola Funari and a 10-round verdict over Dutch champion Jan Nicolaas. In his 18th bout, he was held to a draw by Allan Tanner of Guyana and in his next bout fought to a stalemate with then Italian lightweight champion Luigi Male.

Loi won another 8 fights in a row including 10-round decisions over Austrian lightweight champion Karl Marchart and the once-formidable American Ray Lewis, who had once beaten future three-time world lightweight champion and future Hall of Famer Jimmy Carter. This streak led to another shot at the Italian lightweight title and this time Loi outpointed an overmatched Gianluigi Uboldi for the belt Male had voluntarily relinquished.

Before defending the title, Loi engaged in 6 non-title bouts, winning them all. Among those wins were a TKO-2 over Lewis and 10-round decisions over 1948 Olympic lightweight bronze medalist Svend Wad of Denmark and tough British veteran Tommy Barnham.

On April 2, 1952, Loi put the Italian title on the line and came away with a decision over highly regarded Emilio Marconi. It was the first of 3 times Loi and Marconi would do battle.

Duilio then won 2 non-title bouts including a 10-round decision over Spanish champion Agustin Argote to earn a shot at the European lightweight championship.

Loi then signed to challenge European titlist Jorgen Johansen in Copenhagen. The two fought on August 17, 1952. Johansen, who owned wins over Wad, Elis Ask, and Tanner, and had fought to a draw with British lightweight champion Tommy McGovern, had lost a non-title bout to Marconi three months before fighting Loi. Loi entered the ring the proud owner of a 35-0-2 record but after 15 rounds, his "0" was no more. Johansen had retained the title on points.

Not to be deterred, Loi was back in action in less than three months. Three wins in non-title bouts led to a defense of his Italian title against 1948 Olympic featherweight gold medal winner Ernesto Formenti. Formenti had won the Italian featherweight title in 1950 but vacated the title in late 1952 to campaign as a lightweight. Loi, then 38-1-2, met the 34-1-2 Formenti on January 28, 1953 and stopped him in the 9th round of their scheduled 12-rounder.

After another 6 non-title bouts in which Loi went 5-0-1, including a 10-round decision over Tanner, a 10th round TKO over Formenti, and a 10-round draw with Franco Antonini, the Italian champion risked his title against old foe Marconi. On September 13, 1953, they battled to a 12-round draw.

Before the end of the year, Loi won 3 more non-title bouts to set up an early 1954 rematch with still European champ Johansen. Fighting at the Palazzo della Sports in Milan, Loi outpointed Johansen over 15 rounds.

In his next bout, a 10-round non-title affair, Loi outpointed another foe from his past, Antonini. He added another non-title victory to his slate before facing undefeated Bruno Visintin with both his Italian and European titles on the line. Loi prevailed, earning the decision over Visintin after 15 rounds.

Now 51-1-4, Loi kept busy. A month after beating Visintin, he defeated Mario Ciccarelli in a non-title scrap and less than a month later, outpointed the well-regarded Frenchman Jacques Herbillon to retain the European diadem.

Duilio then engaged in 3 non-title bouts in Australia. He defeated former British Empire lightweight champion Ivor "Kid" Germain, California-based Mexican veteran Mario Trigo, and old rival Argote, who had relocated to Australia and came into his rematch with Loi off a win in a rematch with Visintin.

Loi finished 1954 ranked as the #2 lightweight contender in The Ring's prestigious ratings.

He started 1955 off impressively. He traveled to the United States and defeated future World Boxing Hall of Fame inductee Del Flanagan over 10 rounds in Miami Beach. He followed that with wins in Italy over long-time contender Ray Famechon, Guy Gracia, who owned a win over Formenti and would later defeat Dave Charnley (twice) and Willie Toweel, tough South African Alby Tissong, Louis Carrara, who had beaten Gracia 2 out of 3 times and had wins over Ciccarelli and Johansen, and journeyman Morlay Kamara.

In his 7th fight of the year, on July 2, Loi outpointed Giancarlo Garbelli, a 33-1-4 challenger for both his Italian and European titles. After his 15-round victory, Loi voluntarily vacated his national crown to concentrate on his European championship and his quest for a world title opportunity.

Duilio fought 6 more fights in 1955, emerging victorious in each of them. Among those he defeated in non-title bouts were former British lightweight champion Joe Lucy, German welterweight champ Werner Handke, and Gordon Goodman, who was coming off a non-title win over then British lightweight champion Frank Johnson. In defense of his European title, Loi beat Seraphin Ferrer, who had knocked out former world lightweight champion Paddy DeMarco in 5 rounds.

Rated by The Ring as the #1 lightweight contender, Loi began 1956 with a bout against 9th ranked Orlando Zulueta. Zulueta had fought Sandy Saddler for the vacant world junior lightweight title in 1949 and would challenge Joe Brown for the world lightweight title in 1957. He had wins over such luminaries as Paddy DeMarco, Wallace (Bud) Smith, Jimmy Carter, Glen Flanagan, and Carlos Chavez. The tough Cuban inflicted punishment on Loi, cut him badly, but could not stop the Italian's awesome body attack. After 10 grueling rounds, Loi had his 70th win.

Duilio fought 13 tmes in 1956, winning 12 and battling to a 15-round draw against Spanish southpaw Jose Hernandez. In December, 7 months after they fought to a stalemate, Loi won for the 81st time, outpointing Hernandez over 15 rounds. Besides Zulueta and Hernandez, among Loi's 12 1956 victims were Spanish welterweight champion Abdelkader Ben Buker II, European featherweight king Fred Galiana, previously unbeaten Dutch lightweight champion Piet van Klaveren, future French lightweight boss Fernand Nollet, future French welterweight titlist Maurice Auzel, another future French 147-pound champ Sauveur Chiocca, and future French lightweight titleholder Felix Chiocca.

Loi had been the number one contender while Wallace (Bud) Smith ruled the lightweight division. He was still the number one contender after Joe Brown dethroned Smith.

1957 would be another excellent year for Loi but another year in which a world title shot would elude him. He fought 13 times and added 13 wins to his record. He started the year with a disqualification win over Bobby Ros. Ros, who had wins over Galiana and Hernandez, would win the Spanish lightweight title two fights after losing to Loi. Duilio's next opponent was ill-fated former German lightweight champion Karl Heinz Bick whom he halted in the 10th round. Sadly, Bick would fight once more and would succumb to injuries he suffered that bout.

Loi next fought Hocine Khalfi, a France-based Algerian who once upset Sandy Saddler in a non-title bout. Loi outpointed Khalfi over 10 rounds.

Former and future German lightweight champion Rudi Langer was next on Loi's ledger and he too was outpointed by the now 85-1-5 Italian legend.

Before defending the European title, Loi racked up 8 more non-title wins including a 6th round stoppage of van Klaveren in their rematch and ten-round decisions over future German welterweight champion Ernst Zetzmann and former European welterweight champ Idrissa Dione. On December 26, 1957, Loi fought Felix Chiocca again, this time with the European belt on the line. The bout was 5 rounds longer than their first encounter but the result was the same. Loi won by a deserved decision.

Another year had come to an end and Loi, still ranked by The Ring as the world's #1 lightweight contender, had not been given his long overdue title shot.

Loi first fought in 1958 in February. He and German lightweight champion Manfred Neuke, the boxer against whom Bick had suffered his fatal injuries, fought to a 10-round draw.

In March, former world champion Wallace (Bud) Smith, who was suffering through a 9-bout losing streak, traveled to Milan to meet Loi, something he hadn't done while champion. Loi demolished the former champ, knocking him down 5 times and winning by knockout at the end of the 9th round.

Mexico's Al Nevarez was next up for the more and more frustrated Italian contender. Nevarez held wins over Don Jordan, Zulueta, and Smith and was confident of scoring another important victory. It wasn't to be. Loi chalked up another 10-round decision.

In July, it was globetrotting New York journeyman Charley Douglas who provided a workout for Loi. Duilio again won a 10-round decision.

Loi next fought on September 5 in what proved to be his last defense as the European lightweight champion. He and tough Italian champion Mario Vecchiatto fought to a bruising 15-round draw.

Loi frustrated with not getting a shot at Joe Brown and having difficulty making the lightweight limit, moved up to the welterweight class. He finished the year with a decision over future German lightweight and welterweight champion Conny Rudhoff, who would also go on to win the European lightweight and light welterweight championships.

By the end of 1958, Loi was no longer The Ring's no. 1 ranked lightweight. He was rated #3 behind Kenny Lane and Carlos Ortiz. It was an interesting top 3. In 1959, the junior lightweight and junior welterweight divisions were reinstated and Lane and Ortiz were matched for the vacant championship at 140 pounds. Ortiz, avenging an earlier loss, knocked Lane out in the 2nd round to become boxing's first junior welterweight champion since Tippy Larkin in 1946.

1959 was also the year Loi challenged for the European welterweight title. The defending champion was none other than Emilio Marconi, against whom Loi won a decision in 1952 and fought to a draw in 1953. Loi floored Marconi twice on the way to wresting the title via a 15-round decision.

Ten months went by before Loi fought again. On February 13, 1960, he defended the European welterweight championship against another familiar face, Brino Visintin. Nearly 6 years had gone by since their first fight but the outcome remained the same. Loi won on points after 15 rounds.

Nine days earlier, Ortiz made the first defense of his world title, knocking out Battling Torres in the 10th round.

Loi, after wins over Tommy Molloy and Jacques Nervi, traveled to San Francisco to become Ortiz' second title challenger. The Puerto Rican-New Yorker retained his championship with a hard-fought, 15-round split decision. Three months later, on September 1, 1960, the two met in a rematch in Milan. This time Loi prevailed by majority decision.

Before 1960 was over, Loi defended the European title once more, battering yet another past rival, Maurice Auzel, over 15 rounds.

The Ring did not initially recognize the reborn "junior" weight divisions and ranked the "traditional 8" only. At the end of 1960, The Ring ranked Loi #7 as a welterweight and Ortiz #2 at 135 pounds.

The two future Hall of Famers met for the third time on May 10, 1961. This time it wasn't close. Loi punctuated a brilliant performance by dropping Ortiz in the 6th round and went on to win after 15 rounds by scores of 70-67, 74-69, and 74-66.

Ortiz, after wins over Doug Vaillant and Paolo Rosi, would dethrone future Hall of Famer Joe Brown for the lightweight title to begin the first of two reigns as the one of the division's greatest champions.

Loi, in his next bout, defended the European welterweight title by outpointing perennial world contender Chris Christensen.

On October 21, 1961, Loi put his world title on the line and was held to a draw by another future Hall of Famer, Eddie Perkins.

Loi then ran off 7 straight wins in non-title welterweight bouts, including a victory over Billy Collins, Sr., before defending the European title with a 15-round decision over the 56-1-3 Fortunato Manca.

This led to the final two bouts of Loi's career. On September 14, 1962, Loi and Perkins fought the second bout of their trilogy. Despite flooring Perkins in the 1st and 14th rounds, Loi lost his championship before his hometown fans by unanimous decision. Three months later, on December 15, Loi avenged the loss, regaining the title by winning on points after 15 rounds.

On January 23, 1963, Loi announced his retirement, leaving the sport with a career record of 115 wins, 3 losses, and 8 draws with 26 wins by knockout.

He was inducted into the IBHOF in 2005. His greatest foes, Ortiz and Perkins, have also been voted into the IBHOF. Ortiz was inducted in 1991. Already elected, Perkins will be inducted later this year (2008).


Rest in peace, champ.

Ken Pollitt

[marciano1952]

Great Read Kstat should def be on the main page

[KSTAT124]

Thanks.

Here's links to Loi's, Ortiz', and Perkins' IBHOF bios.

http://www.ibhof.com/pages/about/induct ... n/loi.html

http://www.ibhof.com/pages/about/induct ... arlos.html

http://www.ibhof.com/pages/about/induct ... rkins.html