Clemente Russo, new life after retirement: “I’ll be a technician, looking for talent”

Clemente Russo, boxer from Marcianise (Ce), took his leave from the ring at the end of July, just when the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games were about to begin. Yesterday he ratified it on the occasion of the celebratory event of his extraordinary career, promoted and organized at the G. Minervini Room in Largo Luigi Daga from the Department of Penitentiary Administration in synergy with the FPI. And as he himself specifies: “There is no talk of an end but of a new beginning. I will continue to serve in boxing but this time as a coach in search of talent”.

THE PRESIDENT SPEAKS

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A special dedication strongly desired by the head of the Penitentiary Administration Department, the president Bernardo Petralia, who, together with a rich parterre, recalled the skills of a great champion who marked the history of Italian and world boxing, an athlete who is a symbol of prison police. “I have always had the belief – said Petralia – that boxers are the actors of an inhuman test for humanity, and the ring is a level, like the one described by Totò, where ethnicity, height, length fail, in a moment, as soon as the boxers start fighting. I thank Clemente Russo because with his career, his results and his strategic and intelligent style he has led many girls and boys to believe that boxing is an extraordinary opportunity to put themselves in discussion, to take oneself seriously with the sincere smile of those who know that that effort is already an icon of social victory “.

FLAVIO D’AMBROSI, PRESIDENT OF FPI

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Russo was part of the Fiamme Oro sports group for ten years, and then moved, in 2012, to that of the Fiamme Azzurre, inspiring entire generations of boxers, starting with the youngest. “I am sure – the comment of the president of the FPI Flavio D’Ambrosi – that Clemente will continue to obtain successes even on the corner and that, with his talent and his experience, he will contribute in a decisive way to forming that youth academy that remains today one of the first objectives of the FPI. He was and will continue to be a great example of man and athlete “.

THE THOUGHT OF CLEMENTE

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This is the teaching of his first teacher Domenico Brillantino and not only: “I thank the precious team of trainers – Clemente intervened moved – from Patrizio Oliva, Francesco Damiani to Giuseppe Foglia, who, together with all the Fpi staff, starting from president, they gave me the opportunity to grow in and out of the ring and to do it in harmony with my second family, the sporting group of the Fiamme Azzurre. head of the GS Fiamme Azzurre Mariano Salvatore and the head of the boxing section Augusto Onori. I will continue to serve in boxing, but this time as a technician in search of talent “.

An objective that has always been pursued by the boxing section, which has carried out numerous initiatives on the Italian territory in synergy with the FPI, relying on valid athletes and agents such as Vincenzo Mangiacapre, Mirko Carbotti, Gerlando Tumminello, Giuseppe Canonico, Amedeo Sauli and former athletes such as Tommaso Rossano. A direction that goes well with the intuition of President D’Ambrosi, who entrusted Francesco Damiani, federal observer of the youth teams, and Patrizio Oliva, technical manager of the Schoolboy national team, the task of training the new recruits in view of the next Olympic appointments. With them the third Fpi Ambassador, Maurizio Stecca, for a precious triad that today recalled the most beautiful and exciting moments lived with the student and friend Clemente. Anecdotes and stories of the ring told in an impeccable way by the two journalists and writers Dario Torromeo and Luigi Panella with whom the boxer from Caserta shared important projects, even at ringside as a technical commentator. A justified absentee could not be missing, the very champion Roberto Cammarelle, who sent a fraternal video message to Clemente.