Boxing, Santacroce vs Demollari: tonight the great boxing live streaming on Repubblica.it

“I am experiencing the hours of waiting in a way that I would define as strange. No anxiety, I’m very calm, I’ve fought the match a million times in my mind”. Francesco Santacroce, 25 years old, born in Trieste (“But I have practically always lived in Gorizia”), land of boxing legends such as Duilio Loi, Tiberio Mitri, Nino Benvenuti. He will be one of the protagonists of the main event of the meeting on 6 May at the PalaBrumatti in Gorizia which marks the return of great boxing live streaming on Repubblica.it, up for grabs the Italian title of a classic category like that of light weights. Santacroce will try to dethrone the reigning champion Marvin Demollari, already protagonist on our site in the match to win the title against Daniel Spada.

“It will be a show match”

“I tell my friends from Repubblica to connect because Marvin and I have complementary characteristics to give life to a very spectacular match. Competition with football? There are matches every day, not an Italian title…”. Santacroce has a record of 12 matches, with 11 wins and one defeat, precisely in the last match against Federico Schinina: “I gained too much weight, let’s say I did a sort of experiment that could have gone better, but let’s look ahead”. Boxing as a family vocation: “My father fought as a agonist until he was 25, he was also the Italian champion as a novice. As a lively kid I was he used to take me to the gym and I immediately liked it”

Santacroce: “I’ll use my footwork”

Santacroce demonstrates the strength of tranquility in the presentation of the match: “He is a fighter. At the beginning of my career I was too, then I worked a lot on technique and footwork. In any case, if there are any short-distance exchange situations, I certainly won’t back down.” An evolution also witnessed by the boxers of inspiration: “First of all Miguel Cotto, a warrior. But now I carefully study the fights of a boxer who is soaring like Shakur Stevenson, one who makes speed and timing his strength ”. Two boxers from the American area, where the lightweights are the masters, but Santacroce doesn’t make any proclamations: “It’s clear that as a kid you dreamed of the world title in the USA, but you also have to be realistic. The Italian title would already be a good conquest to maybe look towards Europe”. To achieve this, Santacroce has been dedicating himself for a long time only to boxing: “I worked as a plumbing and heating, then some part time. But now I’m focusing only on this match, it’s my chance and I want to take advantage of it.”

Demollari: “The ring isn’t big, he might escape for a couple of rounds but then…”

“He may run away for a couple of rounds, but the ring isn’t that big. I’ll take him.” Marvin Demollari, 28 years old, of Albanian origin but very Tuscan, launch the challenge with the safety of the belt holder. “They will be sparks, I’m ready for a great match, I will always shorten the distance. I’m facing a good opponent, but I won’t give him a break.” The title conquered gave him further awareness of his abilities: “I trained, if possible, even more. I intend to keep this belt and then let’s see if we can take a further step forward”. However, he didn’t change his life: “I train, I go to work and then I train again (laughs). There’s absolutely nothing different from before”.

“I like to fight away from home, my 35 loyalists are enough for me”

The adverse field factor doesn’t scare him. After all, when he won the title against Daniel Spada in Rome, the support against him was torrid: “I like it when the crowd is against me, they charge me. And then I always have my 30s, 35s. They always follow me from Tuscany and they are enough for me “

The match, scheduled for 21.30, will be preceded by the super middleweight sub highlight between Simone Tralo and Jovan Stojiljkovic. Connection on Repubblica.it starting at 20.30.