The champions, the fans, and "his" people of Villanova: a final farewell to Tonino Puddu.

A long round of applause and intense emotion. This was the greeting a large crowd of at least three generations gave in Piazza San Giacomo, in his "church" in the Villanova neighborhood where he was a member of the Archconfraternity, as Tonino Puddu's coffin passed by, where the boxing champion's funeral was held today. Many gray hairs, people who don't know each other but recognize each other. A sense of sharing, speaking of a life lived parallel to the triumphs of Poldino, as fans called him in the years when he moved to Milan and fought. But also many young people, who experienced those matches by watching YouTube, but who appreciated Tonino Puddu's qualities.
He was a sports legend. A man who never stopped being a champion. Because while Olympic gold medals last forever, the people continued to pay tribute to him as a world champion (and he was one in the military), every day. A king's achievement, but a democratic one, one that never looked down on anyone from the throne.
And then, of course, they couldn't be missing, the "faces full of punches," the boxers. Led by his old friend Vittorio Lai, the man who led boxing in Sardinia for 30 years . There are Fabrizio, Manuel, and Patrick Cappai. There are Raffaele Marongiu and Paolo Carta, the heart and soul of Ap Sardegna. There is the president of the regional committee of the Federboxe, Guido Sarritzu: "A courageous athlete, generous in the ring and deeply attached to his homeland. With his career and his example, he helped grow and make Sardinian boxing known far beyond the island's borders." "Tonino was the king, the greatest of them all," says a man in his seventies as the coffin emerges. He's right, he was a king. But he didn't look down on anyone from his throne.