Secluded if not almost neglected for the entire duration of the Olympic tournament, boxing is ready to deservedly take the front pages of the national media having already secured Italy three medals, which are now bronze but which could be transformed into more precious metals if of further successes of the three Azzurri representatives who reached the semifinals: Roberto Cammarelle among the super heavyweights, Clemente Russo in the heavyweights and Vincenzo Mangiacapre in the super lightweights.
Cammarelle, holder of the Olympic title in Beijing, beat the Moroccan Mohammed Arjaoudi in the quarterfinals after a less easy fight than expected, also because the Italian champion was unable to sink the punches against a grumpy opponent intent on belting him all the time. "I don't want to stop here, but I have to do better", was Cammarelle's honest comment at the end of the match, dissatisfied with his performance, even more and more convinced that he didn't have the favor of the judges on his side. However, it was a clearer victory than the 12-11 score suggests, mainly the fault of a Vietnamese judge who had even judged the Moroccan as the winner. In the semifinals, the Italian boxing giant will face the Azeri Magomedrasul Medzhidov who beat the Russian Magomed Omarov this afternoon. The Snai odds favor the Azeri with a quote of 3,50 against Cammarelle given at 5. The other two semifinalists are the British Antony Joshua and the Kazakh Ivan Dychko, two uncomfortable clients because if both impressed in the quarterfinals with power and technique, the former also has the advantage of playing at home and is among the big four of the super heavyweights the best quoted (1,90) in Snai bets. Whatever the continuation of the tournament goes, Cammarelle has already secured a place of honor in the history of the Games, the only Italian among the super heavyweights and eighth boxer in the world to win three medals by participating in three Olympics.
The entrance to the final will also be played this afternoon Clement Russo, who beat the Cuban José Larduet Gomez in the quarterfinals in the category up to 91 kg. He will face Teymur Mammadov, a 19-year-old boxer from Azerbaijan, silver medalist at the 2011 World Championships in Baku. The Snai odds for the heavyweight semifinalists see the Ukrainian Usyk Oleksandr quoted at 2,15 ahead of Russo (3,50) and Mammadov (3,75).
Third blue with the bronze medal virtually already around his neck (in Olympic boxing the two eliminated in the semifinals are classified ex-aequo in third place) is Vincenzo Mangiacapre, third place at the World Championships in Baku, who in the super light category up to 64 kg, will have to face the Cuban Roniel Iglesias Sotolongo, the big favorite of the London 2012 tournament. Bronze at the Beijing Games, world champion in 2009, Sotolongo is quoted 2,20 while Snai offers 7 odds for Mangiacapre. But Marcianise's blue is growing: this was seen against the Kazakh Daniyar Yeleussinov, beaten 16- 12 thanks to a brilliant and shrewd third round.
Domenico Valentino, on the other hand, did not make it to the semi-final, also like Russo and Campanian Mangiacapre from Marcianise. Battle name Mr. Tattoo due to the many tattoos on his body, the boxer, who competed in the lightweight category up to 60 kg, stopped in the quarterfinals defeated on points 16-14 by the Lithuanian Evaldas Petrauskas.
