Salvatore Burruni

Hard-hitting Salvatore Burruni was born in Sardinia and, as an amateur, won the Italian flyweight title in 1954 and 1956. He twice won the World Military Championships (1955-56), and also won the gold medal at the 1955 Mediterranean Games in Barcelona. The following year, at the Melbourne Olympics, he was beaten by Vladimir Stolnikov of the Soviet Union in the second round.

Burruni turned professional in 1957 and had his first bout a week before his 24th birthday, relatively late for a boxer to join the paid ranks. Within 18 months, however, he had won the Italian flyweight title. He also won the European flyweight title in 1961 and, in 1965, got his first chance at a world title and took it by beating Thailand’s Pone Kingpetch, with a unanimous points decision over 15 rounds. The WBA and WBC then stripped Burruni of his title, but he travelled to Australia in December 1965 to beat Rocky Gattellari for a version of the title. Burruni would lose this title to Britain’s Walter McGowan the following year after another 15-round contest, but Burruni was 33-years-of-age at the time.

Struggling to make the weight, Burruni moved up to bantamweight, and added another European crown, after beating the champion Mimoum Ben Ali in 1968. Burruni’s last fight was in April 1969, when he beat Pierre Vetroff to retain his European title. Burruni announced his retirement on 24 July 1969, having won 99 of his 109 fights, 32 by knockout. He retired to the village Santa Maria la Palma near his birthplace at Alghero, where he died in 2004. In honor of his sporting achievements, Burruni was awarded a Gold Medal by the Italian Olympic Committee.