Boxe, Guido Vianello between rings, books and piano: the return to Rome of the Gladiator

“Your Mortacci”. Maestro Italo Mattioli, when at the Montagnola Team Boxe we saw that teenager who was aiming for two meters in front of him, exclaimed astonishment with all his light-hearted Roman spirit. In that instant the intuition of the experienced boxing man already saw other horizons. And he was right. Guido Vianello, 28, from Rome. Bob Arum, one of the most iconic managers in world boxing – among his boxers even Muhammad Ali – wanted him with him. As a professional, in the USA: 10 matches, 9 wins all by knockout and one draw, an alias of those who are so popular overseas, The Gladiator. “When I arrived I didn’t speak English. The first thing they told me was not to take interpreters, to throw myself in and talk. Because in the US they are crazy about the Italian accent, even more you are a boxer”.

The return to Rome of the Gladiator

Now it’s time for Guido to return home: tonight in Rome, at the Pala Atlantico. For the capital the possibility of resuming the great tradition with the Italian heavyweights, made up, among other things, of a legendary world title – Primo Carnera, year 1933, in the setting of Piazza di Siena – and of an Olympic gold medalist, Franco De Piccoli in the unforgettable 1960 edition. “I am very happy because finally the people who have always been close to me will be able to see me live. But I was more excited when I fought at Madison Squadre Garden or at the Rio Olympics. By now I feel I have found the right balance , I’m calm and determined. ” Maturity, but also nostalgia for his own city: “The United States taught me many things. I got involved, I grew up as a boxer and as a man. Six months in California, then two years in Las Vegas. You meet a lot of interesting people, really cool people. But it is difficult to make a true friend. In Las Vegas for example, in addition to high-level training (he made gloves with the world champion Tyson Fury, ed), the rest was staying at home and taking long walks, often alone. It is a city that never goes to sleep, but which paradoxically risks being empty in this endless frenzy … “.

The university and the passion for the piano

Fists, culture, modernity, sensitivity. Vianello studies (“At Luiss, I am in my third year of Political Science. I imagine myself in the future with an institutional role in sport”), he gives himself the right to social media (“Impossible to do it and less nowadays, but we must not exaggerate”) and loves playing the piano: “I like Ludovico Einaudi, a classic but youthful”. He could have been a tennis player since there is a family club at EUR, he chose something else: “The important thing is not to be satisfied. Many think that I am lucky to work with the Americans, and this is also true. the money I earn I reinvest in large part to live outside the problem. Nobody gives you the results. It takes sacrifice and if one day I will manage to earn a millionaire scholarship for a world title it is because I have such a bad ass. “

I am stronger than Anthony Joshua

Next step of the project, the match against the British Jay McFarlane: “I consider it the last construction match, from the next I will raise the bar. But this does not mean that I underestimate it. I spent two weeks in England, I trained with Daniel Dubois (one of the rising stars of English boxing), in Italy I chose sparring with the characteristics of my opponent “. Meanwhile, the bar has already been raised in words (“I am stronger than Anthony Joshua”) citing the former heavyweight champion. The meeting, organized by Top Rank by Bob Arum and Opi Since 82, will see other Roman boxers as protagonists: Mirko Natalizi against the dangerous British Dixon, the European superfly champion Stephanie Silva, the Capitoline derbies Russo-Sarchioto – the superwelter flag up for grabs – and Casamonica-Loli. Live streaming on Mola TV, for the United States the match will go to Espn. Planetary audience, Americans at Gladiator are starting to believe in it seriously.