Rocky Mattioli

[BoztheMadman]

Rocky Mattioli was one of the best junior middleweights of the 70's. He had clean knockout power and although only 5'6, he was very fast and aggressive in the ring and a formidable threat to any junior middleweight of that time. He won the WBC title in 1977 by knocking out then-highly rated Eckhard Dagge and defended it twice before losing it to the excellent Maurice Hope by way of technical knockout in 9 rounds. His career wasn't that long in the span of years, but he amassed a record of 64 wins, 7 losses and 2 draws. He scored 51 knockouts with his power.

 

He was born Rocco Mattioli in Ripa Teatina, in the Abruzzo region of Italy, 20 September 1953. At the age of 5, he emigrated with his family to Morwell, Australia. He started his amateur career at 13 under the guidance of Stan Mounsey in an old shed adjacent to the Morwell Returned Services League house. At the age of 16, young Rocco won the Victoria state amateur title and finished runner up at the national championships of 1969. At 17, he turned professional on the popular tv show "Ringside". Moving to Melbourne, he came under the guidance of national legend Ambrose Palmer, who was a former prizefighter himself. He won his first 5 pro fights before losing to Ricky Day on a 4-round decision. He then won 13 fights, mostly by knockout, and drew one before losing to Paul More by SD10. He avenged the loss in the same way in the rematch 2 months later, November 1971. In May 1973 he won the Aussie welterweight title by knocking out Jeff White in the 12th round. In his next fight, he added the Australasian title to his collection by decisioning the lesser Pongi Lie of New Zealand. His first true triumph however came in 1974, when he decisioned the former light welterweight world champion Eddie Perkins at home in Melbourne, over 10 rounds. A little later, he decisioned Ray Chavez Guerrero, a solid American contender who would later fight Wilfred Benitez. However, in February 1975 he would lose his Australasian title to Ali Afakasi of Samoa on cuts, the fight ending in the 12th round. In his next fight he took on the former welterweight world champion who upset Jose Napoles, Billy Backus and knocked him out in 5 rounds impressively. He also decisioned the solid Moroccan-Spanish contender Mimoun Mohatar, but Harold Weston proved to slick and crafty for him and Mattioli lost a 10-rounder to the guy who even gave Benitez major problems.

 

He went back on track by stopping the experienced Jørgen Hansen, who was one of the best Danish welterweights ever, by TKO 7. In April of 1976, he faced the long-reigning WBC light welterweight champion Bruno Arcari in Milan and fought to a draw with him, even getting the nod on one of the scorecards, which was considered very impressive since Arcari only lost twice in 69 fights, both times due to injuries. It was now obvious that the young Rocky from Melbourne was ready to fight for a world title. And that fight came 6 August 1977, against the German WBC champion Eckhard Dagge-naturally, in Berlin. Dagge was the home favorite but Mattioli left no doubts as he demolished Dagge, knocking him out in 5 rounds. Dagge had taken the title from Elisha Obed, beaten Emile Griffith and defended it by drawing against Maurice Hope, but here he was flat out destroyed. Mattioli went on to also beat Obed, but in the right fashion, in his first defense. He also knocked him out, but in 7 rounds this time, in Milan. In his second defense he beat Spaniard Jose Duran by KO 5 after knocking him down twice first. Mattioli looked practically unstoppable now but there was one man he yet had to beat to be considered the king of the light middleweights-Maurice Hope, who had perhaps been cheated for the title against Dagge earlier, in a draw. They met on 4 March 1979 and Hope proved to be the cryptonite for Rocky, dominating him and stopping him in the 9th round by TKO after a furious fight.

 

Rocky went back to the drawing board for a while, scoring 6 knockouts against easy opposition before again challenging Hope and fighting him on 12 July 1980. This time, the fight was a bit longer and more even, but in the end, Hope again proved stronger and it ended with Mattioli getting stopped in the11th round. With this, his peak career was over. He continued fighting for a little while but after getting stopped by the 47-16 Clement Shinza, he fought low-level fighters for a while before retiring in 1982. He was now 29 but definitely a spent force. In October 2004, he was inducted into the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame. Rocky Mattioli was a come forward, kill or be killed type fighter which the crowds always loved. But it seems those two wars against Hope took a toll on him and ended his prime, as well as his championship reign. He remains a beloved figure inboxing circles in both Australia and Italy.