Francesco Pianeta (born 8 October 1984) is an Italian former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

who competed from 2005 to 2018. He challenged for the unified

WBA (Super) The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is an international professional boxing organization based in Panama. The WBA awards its world championship title at the professional level. Founded i ...

, IBF,

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxin ...

and ''

The Ring The Ring may refer to: Arts and entertainment *The Ring (franchise), ''The Ring'' (franchise), a Japanese horror media franchise Literature * ''The Ring'', a 1967 novel by Richard Chopping * ''The Ring'', a 1988 book by Daniel Keys Moran * ''The R ...

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Male boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 2 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation an ...

championship in 2013, the

WBA (Regular) The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is an international professional boxing organization based in Panama. The WBA awards its world championship title at the professional level. Founded i ...

title in 2015, and in his final fight for the Lineal heavyweight championship in 2018. At regional level, he held the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

heavyweight title from 2008 to 2009.

Background

Pianeta was born in Corigliano in the province of

Cosenza Cosenza (; Languages of Calabria#Northern Calabrian (Cosentian), Cosentian: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city located in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000, while the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. ...

. When he was six his family emigrated to Germany and his father went to work in a butcher store. Before he turned to professional boxing Pianeta practiced

Muay Thai Muay Thai or Muaythai (, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, the Art of Eight Limbs or the Science of Eight Limbs, is a Thai martial art and full-contact combat sport that uses stand-up striking, sweeps, and various clinch fighting, cl ...

and had a record of 9 wins and one loss. Despite being a long-time Germany resident, Pianeta has held close ties with Italy and in 2008 he stated that his ambition was to win the Italian heavyweight title.

Professional career

Pianeta's first fight as a professional boxer was in July 2005, in

Hessen Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major historic cities are Da ...

, Germany, when he beat

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

journeyman A journeyman is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that field as a fully qualified employee ...

Sylvester Petrovic with a second round

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, ...

. Pianeta was subsequently undefeated in all of his next 27 fights, with 14 wins by KO and 1 draw. On 4 May 2013, Pianeta fought

Wladimir Klitschko Wladimir Klitschko; an equivalent English spelling is Vladimir Klichko . His full name in , . (born 25 March 1976) is a Ukrainian former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2017. He held multiple heavyweight world championships betwe ...

for

, IBF,

, IBO, lineal & ''The Ring''

titles. He was knocked down 3 times by Klitschko and lost the bout by the way of TKO. Up until 2018, Pianeta was trained by Alexander Petkovic and promoted by Petkovic′s Petko′s LMS Promotion. Based in Germany, he has also fought in Italy, Ireland, Austria, Poland and Belgium. Pianeta's final fight was against former unified and lineal heavyweight champion

Tyson Fury Tyson Luke Fury (born 12 August 1988) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2008 to 2024. He held multiple world heavyweight championships, including unified titles from 2015 to 2016, the '' Ring'' magazine title twice bet ...

Windsor Park The National Football Stadium at Windsor Park (officially the Clearer Twist National Stadium at Windsor Park for sponsorship reasons), or the National Football Stadium, also known as Windsor Park is a association football, football stadium in B ...

on 18 August 2018. Fury dominated the fight in convincing fashion, winning every single round on referee Steve Gray's scorecard in a shutout points decision victory, handing Pianeta his fifth career loss. In February 2019, Pianeta announced his retirement. He is now a boxing trainer.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

Francesco Pianeta - Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pianeta, Francesco 1984 births Living people Heavyweight boxers Italian male boxers People from Corigliano Calabro Sportspeople from the Province of Cosenza 21st-century Italian sportsmen