Grew up with the myth of Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali, in the ring he made the difference with the class and humility that distinguish a great boxing champion. He was only 11 years old when Roberto Cammarelle, the Olympic and world super heavyweight champion made his first entry into a boxing gym.
Today at the age of 43, the current ambassador of the Italian Boxing Federation, a long career marked by 230 fights and 20 defeats "of which 10 to be contested", presented himself in the auditorium of the Liceo Paglietti in Porto Torres to tell that boxing it is only technical and motor skills, but a daily challenge with oneself , it means acquiring self-esteem and ethical values, but above all respect. «I've never had the talent of other athletes, but my talent was my work: I was the first to arrive at the gym and the last to leave», he told the boys, «I've always believed in what I was doing and only in this way I could show others how to win." His example took him to Italian schools, with Boxando s'impara”, the national educational project, financed and proposed by the Italian Boxing Federation and formally accredited to the Miur, through the company “Sport e Salute”. He presented it in front of an audience of students, to the mayor and deputy mayor of Porto Torres, Massimo Mulas and Simona Fois, to the headmaster Daniele Taras, to the Motor Activities teacher, Piero Nughes and to the president of the "Boxing club Alberto Mura" , Luciano Mura.
The Fpi Special Projects Commission in the school environment, coordinated at national level by Massimo Scioti, assigned the project to the "Paglietti", the only Institute in Sardinia, which included 20 hours of lessons, held during curricular time, of which 10 were theoretical and 10 practices in the gym of the Boxing Club Mura. The champion from Cinisello Balsamo (Milan) wore gloves as a kid. «At the age of 11 I was the classic plump boy who had to lose weight, so I started going to the gym of a family friend, the "Rocky Marciano" sports club, I went there together with my brother who was a year and a half older». he says "I saw the boys fighting each other, something inconceivable for me who just wanted to have fun". The master teaches him to be on guard, to move in space, to deliver jabs, direct, hook and uppercut. "The combination of these twists makes everything fascinating," he says. He soon realizes that this was his way. «I begin to train, I participate in the first competitions of the Youth games, but in reality my first opponent is my brother, a year and a half older than me».
His first title of Italian champion was won in 1995 in the heavyweights, in the Under 16 championship, the following year he joined the junior national team, and in 1996 in the senior one. "So I was able to beat my brother," he stresses. In '96, after yet another Italian title, Cammarelle was called up to the national team. «I'm starting to get to know the other world of boxing, that of professionals and Olympic boxing which was something different for me. My dream to come true." He confesses that his "black beast" were his Russian adversaries. In 2004, in Athens, he took part in his first Olympics, winning the bronze medal in the super heavyweight category. But the left-handed man from Cinisello accomplished his real feat four years later, in Beijing, winning the Olympic gold medal by technical knockout against the Chinese Zhang Zhilei.
In London, he was defeated in the final by local Anthony Joshua, current IBF heavyweight champion, after a hotly contested verdict. «The defeats , being snubbed by the press, the desire to participate to win, have allowed me to obtain the results and successes achieved so far. "Now as technical director of the Fiamme Oro, the sports team of the State Police, I try to encourage the boys, to help them try to win medals".