Simone Maludrottu (born 4 June 1978) is a retired professional boxer from

Olbia Olbia (, ; sc, Terranoa; sdn, Tarranoa) is a city and communes of Italy, commune of 60,346 inhabitants (May 2018) in the Italy, Italian insular province of Sassari in northeastern Sardinia, Italy, in the historical region of Gallura. Called '' ...

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label= Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label= Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, af ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Maludrottu fought in the

Bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from bantam chickens. Bra ...

division and is a former European (

EBU The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the Co ...

) champion.

Professional career

Debut

Maludrottu made his professional debut in July 2000, gaining a victory in Chivasso, Italy, with a points win over six rounds against Giovanni Delisi.

Initial title fights

Maludrottu fought thirteen fights, winning twelve, five by knockout, before he had a chance to fight for his first title belt September 2003 when he challenged Emiliano Salvini for the `Vacant Italian Bantamweight Title in Olbia,

Sassari Sassari (, ; sdc, Sàssari ; sc, Tàtari, ) is an Italian city and the second-largest of Sardinia in terms of population with 127,525 inhabitants, and a Functional Urban Area of about 260,000 inhabitants. One of the oldest cities on the island, ...

, Italy. Maludrottu won this fight after Salvini retired in the seventh round due to an injury.

European title

In September 2004, after a further three victories Maludrottu challenged

Frenchman The French people (french: Français) are an ethnic group and nation primarily located in Western Europe that share a common French culture, history, and language, identified with the country of France. The French people, especially the nat ...

Frederic Patrac for the European (EBU) Bantamweight Title which the Italian won on points over ten rounds.

World title challenge

Simone Maludrottu made an expedition to Japan and, on 10 January 2008, challenged Hozumi Hasegawa of the WBC world bantamweight class champion in Osaka prefectural gymnasium of Osaka-shi, Osaka of Japan. Maludrottu lost a 12 round

unanimous decision A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighter ...

to the Japanese champion.

Damaen Kelly controversy

In April 2006,

Damaen Kelly Damaen Kelly (born 3 April 1973) (also incorrectly known as ''Damien Kelly'') is a British former professional boxer from Belfast, Northern Ireland, who competed from 1997 to 2006. He held the IBO flyweight title from 2000 to 2001 and the IBO ...

challenged Maludrottu at the

Andersonstown Andersonstown is a suburb of west Belfast, Northern Ireland, at the foot of the Black Mountain and Divis Mountain. It contains a mixture of public and private housing and is largely a working-class area with a strong Irish nationalist and Irish ...

Leisure Centre in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingd ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...

. Kelly was attempting to become the first Irishman to capture the European (EBU) Bantamweight Title and the first Irish fighter to win the European title at two different weights. Maludrottu was the naturally bigger man and carried more power having fought and Bantamweight for the majority of his career however Kelly possessed the faster hands and higher technical ability. Kelly's footwork and precise darting jabs frustrated Maludrottu as Kelly stayed out of his range leaving him unable to make his superior power pay. Despite this Maludrottu won an extremely controversial decision by a unanimous points decision. Punch stats showed that Kelly landed 155 punches while the Maludrottu landed only 87 and the vast majority of onlookers believed that Kelly had won a fairly comfortable decision, but the Sardinian was given the verdict by all three judges. Kelly's promoter Tommy Gilmour stated that ''"that was shameful. It was the biggest robbery I've seen in 35 years of boxing"''. In the following rematch in Maludrottu's hometown of Olbia, on 25 November 2006, Maludrottu stopped Kelly inside three rounds after Kelly's trainer Mickey Hawkins threw in the towel. Kelly announced his retirement immediately after the fight stating ''"the time has come for me to walk away. The defeat on Saturday night just confirmed that to me. Every sportsman comes to a point when they know they are at that stage when it is time to go. I've had a great career with highs and lows and I've achieved an awful lot"''. This was to be Kelly's last fight although he was still the number one ranked Irish bantamweight boxer at the time.

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maludrottu, Simone 1978 births Living people People from Olbia Italian male boxers Sportspeople from Sardinia Bantamweight boxers