Francesco Damiani (born 4 October 1958) is an Italian former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 1993. He was the first WBO heavyweight champion, having held the title from 1989 to 1991, as well as the European heavyweight title from 1987 to 1989. As an amateur he won silver medals in the super-heavyweight division at the 1982 World Championships and 1984 Summer Olympics.

Amateur career He participated at 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, where he lost to the eventual silver medalist Piotr Zaev in the quarter-finals. The following year he won the European Amateur Championships in Tampere. At the 1982 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Munich, he beat the legendary Teofilo Stevenson but lost to Tyrell Biggs in the final. In 1983 in Varna he became European champion for the second time, beating Ulli Kaden. He was ranked world's #1 super heavyweight by the AIBA in 1984 (ahead of Tyrell Biggs, who was ranked #2.Boxing Ratings; NEWLN:International Amateur Boxing Assoc.-World champion. a-U.S. titlist. UPI, February 27, 1984.) At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles he again lost to Biggs in the final, despite Biggs' home crowd booing at the judges decision who believed Damiani won the contest (since he threw more punches and was moving forward for most of the contest) which led to the leading BBC boxing commentator Harry Carpenter, who was commentating for the BBC sport Olympic coverage, to say that "..it was the worst boxing decision in all my years of boxing commentating". Francesco Damiani was the Italian boxing team coach for the London 2012 Summer Olympics.

Olympic results 1980: Round of 16: Defeated Teodor Pîrjol (Romania) 4–1 Quarterfinal: Lost to Piotr Zaev (Soviet Union) 0–5

1984: 1st round bye Defeated William Isangura (Tanzania) RSC 2 Defeated Robert Wells (Great Britain) RSC 3 Lost to Tyrell Biggs (United States) 1–4

Professional career Damiani began his professional career on a tear, with 27 consecutive victories. He defeated Tyrell Biggs in a rematch of their Olympic meeting, stopping him on a cut, and then won the newly created WBO Heavyweight title with a 3rd-round KO victory over Johnny DuPlooy on 6 May 1989. Damiani hit a brick wall when he took on 1988 Olympic Gold Medalist Ray Mercer in 1991 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Damiani was ahead on points but went down after a Mercer left uppercut broke his nose, and he was counted out by the referee in the 9th round.

In 1991, he had been chosen to face Evander Holyfield for the undisputed heavyweight championship, but an injury prevented him from getting into the ring.

Damiani would come back in 1992 to take a decision over former champion Greg Page, but quit in the 8th round of the following bout versus Oliver McCall in 1993, ending his career.

In 1993 former mobster Sammy Gravano testified under oath that in the late 80s he attempted to arrange a fixed fight between Damiani, who Gravano alleged was associated with an organized crime family in Italy, and Renaldo Snipes. The winner (Snipes) would fight Tyson, however Damiani lost his fight with Ray Mercer before the Snipes bout and that put him out of the picture for a major fight.

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes32Loss30–2 Oliver McCallTKO8 (10), 23 Apr 1993 31Win30–1 Greg PageUD1012 Sep 1992 30Win29–1 Michael GreerKO1 (10), 22 Apr 1992 29Win28–1 Frankie SwindellPTS87 Mar 1992 28Loss27–1 Ray MercerKO9 (12), 11 Jan 1991 27Win27–0 Everett MartinKO220 Oct 1990 26Win26–0 Tony MorrisonKO3 (10)2 Jun 1990 25Win25–0 Daniel Eduardo NetoTKO2 (12)16 Dec 1989 24Win24–0 Johnny du PlooyKO3 (12), 6 May 1989 23Win23–0 Manfred JassmannKO3 (12)17 Dec 1988 22Win22–0 Tyrell BiggsTKO5 (10), 29 Oct 1988 21Win21–0 John EmmenTKO3 (12)22 Apr 1988 20Win20–0 Dorcey GaymonTKO4 (10)22 Jan 1988 19Win19–0 Anders EklundKO6 (12), 9 Oct 1987 18Win18–0 Eddie RichardsonPTS1011 Jul 1987 17Win17–0 James Broad1011 Apr 1987 16Win16–0 Eddie GreggTKO1 (12)14 Feb 1987 15Win15–0 Rodney SmithTKO219 Dec 1986 14Win14–0 Kevin P PorterTKO514 Nov 1986 13Win13–0 Rocky SekorskiPTS1019 Sep 1986 12Win12–0 Donnie LongKO24 Jul 1986 11Win11–0 Danny SuttonTKO730 May 1986 10Win10–0 Mike PerkinsTKO5 (8)2 Apr 1986 9Win9–0 Tom Trimm214 Feb 1986 8Win8–0 Bobby CrabtreeTKO631 Jan 1986 7Win7–0 Felipe RodriguezTKO528 Sep 1985 6Win6–0 Rick KellarTKO1 (6), 13 Jul 1985 5Win5–0 Walter Santemore629 Jun 1985 4Win4–0 Larry RobersonTKO1, 17 May 1985 3Win3–0 Dragomir Milo PopovicTKO620 Apr 1985 2Win2–0 George ButzbachTKO28 Mar 1985 1Win1–0 Allou Gobe35 Jan 1985

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