Duilio Loi (19 April 1929 – 20 January 2008) was an Italian boxer who held the Italian and European

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing (sport), rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) boxing weight classes, weight class in the spor ...

and

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term ''welterweight'' was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

titles, as well as the World Junior Welterweight Championship. Loi fought from 1948 to 1962, and retired with a record of 115 wins (26 KOs), 3 losses and 8 draws. Loi is considered one of the greatest fighters of all time at his weight and one of the best fighters to come out of Italy.

Biography

Loi was born in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

in 1929, to a father from

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and mother from

Friuli-Venezia Giulia Friuli-Venezia Giulia () is one of the 20 regions of Italy and one of five autonomous regions with special statute. The regional capital is Trieste on the Gulf of Trieste, a bay of the Adriatic Sea. Friuli-Venezia Giulia has an area of and a ...

. Loi fought many outstanding fighters in his career, including three bouts with lightweight great Carlos Ortiz. Although all their fights were close, Loi won two out of three bouts, which were all for the world

light welterweight Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional boxing In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, ...

title. The first bout, which was nationally televised in the US, took place on 16 June 1960 at

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. In what would be one of only two US appearances, Loi was defeated after 15 rounds, with a controversial split-decision in Ortiz' favour. Less than three months later the two met again for a rematch, this time in Loi's native Italy. The bout took place at Milan's famous

San Siro San Siro is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy. It has a seating capacity of 75,817, making it the largest stadium in Italy and one of the largest stadiums in Europe. It is the home stadium of the city's principal ...

stadium, in front of a record crowd of 65,000. Loi came through strongly in the late rounds to become World Champion by majority decision. The next year a third bout took place, again at the San Siro. Loi knocked down Ortiz in the sixth and earned a victory by unanimous decision to defend his title. After his retirement, Duillio Loi's life was marked by a personal tragedy. In 1975, his son Vittorio, a neo-fascist militant, was sentenced to ten years in prison for causing the death of a policeman in a street clash. Loi was inducted into the

International Boxing Hall of Fame The International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, right next to exit 34 of the New York State Thruway, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide. Inductees are selected on ballots cre ...

in 2005. His daughter Bonaria accepted the award on his behalf, because Loi was suffering from

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. Loi died in January 2008 at the age of 78 in

Treviso Treviso ( ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 87.322 inhabitants (as of December 2024). Some 3,000 live within the Venetian wall ...

, Italy, and is buried at the

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Professional boxing record

Titles in boxing

Major world titles

* NYSAC

champion (140 lbs) (2×) * NBA (WBA) light welterweight champion (140 lbs) (2×)

''The Ring'' magazine titles

* ''The Ring'' light welterweight champion (140 lbs)

Regional/International titles

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

champion (135 lbs) * European lightweight champion (135 lbs) * European welterweight champion (147 lbs)