David Diamante will be the ring announcer at Verbania Boxing Night in Italy
David Diamante will be the ring announcer at Verbania Boxing Night on April 22, in Verbania, Piemonte region in Italy. In the main event, former Italian super middleweight champion and hometown star Ivan Zucco (15-0, 13 KOs) will challenge Serbian Marko Nikolic (28-1, 12 KOs) for the vacant WBC International title on the ten rounds distance.
The show will be promoted by Opi Since 82-Matchroom-DAZN and streamed live and later on-demand by DAZN. David Diamante has worked at boxing events all over the world for over 20 years and his presence adds an international touch at Verbania Boxing Night.
Diamante has also played himself in many movies, the most famous being Southpaw starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Rachel McAdams. Last December, Diamante had a seriuos motorcycle accident that needed surgery, but now is back to work. Last Saturday, in Manchester, he worked at a Matchroom event that saw rising star Connor Benn destroy in two rounds Chris Van Herdeen. Now, he is ready to move on to Verbania.
Mr. Diamante, are you happy to go back to Italy for the Verbania Boxing Night?
“Of course I am. Every time that I worked in Italy I had fun for the quality of the fighters, of the show, for the beauty of cities like Milan and Rome and of arenas like Allianz Cloud and Foro Italico. When I was in Milan for the press conference of the Milan Boxing Night, I was amazed by the beauty of the location in Piazza Duomo, of the cathedral, of the gallery and the other buildings. Same thing in Rome at Foro Italico.”
You worked at the show where Ivan Zucco became Italian super middleweight champion. What’s your opinion about him?
“I remember well the fight between Ivan Zucco and Luca Capuano at Allianz Cloud for the vacant Italian super middleweight championship. Ivan is an excellent fighter with a lot of heart and very good conditioning. He put up a great and spectacular fight with Capuano, but at some point Capuano slowed down while Zucco kept throwing punches and those were hard punches. After six rounds, the fight was stopped. Ivan Zucco has a lot of potential and can go far.”
What do you think of the other Italian fighters that you saw in the ring?
“They were all good fighters. Some of the most entertaining fights that I saw in Italy were for the Italian championship. I think that we don’t have to judge fighters based on stereotypes like Mexican have a lot of heart and are more aggressive. That’s true also for fighters of other nationalities. The most important difference between fighters is the quality of their sparring partners. That’s what I mean: In Italy, Italian fighters spar with other Italians. In the U.K. British fighters spar with other British. In cities like New York and Los Angeles, the gyms are full of Italian, British, Polish, Latin American and even Uzbekistan fighters.A professional has the opportunity to spar with pros from all over the world with different boxing styles and that has a lot of weight in the ring.”
You played the ring announcer in many movies. Which movie is the most important for you?
“Southpaw because the director was Antoine Fuqua, a great one. When they called me, I immediately accepted. I like working as an actor. I also worked at Hardy, a movie about former WBO World featherweight champion Heather Hardy. This is a great time for women’s boxing. Next week I will be in New York to work at the great show at Madison Square Garden. The main event is WBC/WBO/IBF/WBA World lightweight champion Katie Taylor against Amanda Serrano. The arena is sold-out. I mean the main arena with 20,000 seats. It’s the first time in history that a women’s fight is the main event at MSG. Only a few years ago was unthinkable to sell out MSG with a women’s main event.”
HÖRFA are proud sponsors of British Boxing News