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Tiberio Mitri (12 July 1926 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, ...
– 12 February 2001 in
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
), also known as "La tigre di Trieste" (The Trieste Tiger) was an Italian boxer who fought from 1946 to 1957. During his career, Mitri was Italian and European
middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...
champion.


Early career

Mitri made his professional debut right after the end of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
on 31 July 1946 in Venice where he defeated Alfredo Pamio with a KO. Over his first four years of fighting, Mitri racked up an undefeated record of 50–0. During this period, he won the Italian middleweight crown in 1948 by defeating Giovanni Manca and the European title with a points win over
Cyrille Delannoit Cyrille Delannoit (alternatively Cyriel Delannoit; Geraardsbergen, 13 March 1926 – 9 February 1998) was a Belgian boxer. He was also known by his nickname Tarzan. In 1948, he became European boxing champion in the middleweight class.
. His first title defence was against Jean Stock, which he won by unanymous decision.


Bout with Jake LaMotta

In 1950 Mitri earned the right to be Jake LaMotta's mandatory challenger for the world middleweight championship once
Rocky Graziano Thomas Rocco Barbella (January 1, 1919 – May 22, 1990), better known as Rocky Graziano, was an American professional boxer and actor who held the World Middleweight title. Graziano is considered one of the greatest knockout artists in boxing ...
dropped out. On 11 July 1950, at
Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...
, Mitri lost to LaMotta in a 15-round decision. Opinions on the contest vary. According to the first edition of ''The Encyclopedia of Boxing'' edited by British historian and sport writer Gilbert Odd in 1983, Mitri "narrowly" lost. In his autobiography ""Raging Bull"" (1970), LaMotta is significantly less complementary. He questions Mitri's balance in the ring, first stating that "one thing a top fighter rarely is, is off balance" and then explaining how the issue accounted for the fight going into the distance, "because it's hard to fight that kind of fighter". The official scores, according to the
New York State Athletic Commission The New York State Athletic Commission or NYSAC, also known as the New York Athletic Commission, is a division of the New York State Department of State which regulates all contests and exhibitions of unarmed combat within the state of New York ...
, lists the three judges's scorecard unanimously in LaMotta's favour with Mark Conn 3-12, Joe Agnello 6-9, and Bert Grant 7-8.


Mitri vs. Turpin

Mitri was able to reclaim the European Middleweight title soon after at the expense of former world middleweight champion Randy Turpin. On, 2 May 1954, fighting in Rome, Mitri scored a surprising upset, knocking out Turpin after only 65 seconds.


Final years

Mitri lost the European Middleweight title after a three-round stoppage by France's Charles Humez. Mitri's last moment of glory was on New Year's Day in 1956, when he defeated Bill Jo Cohen after the American boxer refused to answer the bell for the 8th round. Mitri was ahead on points, at the time of stoppage. Mitri retired in 1957 with a record of 101 bouts, 88 wins, 7 defeats and 6 draws. Following his retirement, Mitri took up acting.


References


External links

* Tiberio Mitri on Boxre

* The autobiography of Tiberio Mitri
La botta in testa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitri, Tiberio 1926 births 2001 deaths Middleweight boxers Sportspeople from Trieste Italian male film actors Italian male boxers 20th-century Italian sportsmen