Salvatore Curcetti: WBA Title Challenge and Career
Salvatore Curcetti was an Italian super-featherweight boxer whose professional career ran from 1983 to 1992. His record is listed as 19 victories, seven defeats and one draw. He challenged Brian Mitchell for the WBA super-featherweight championship in December 1987 but did not win the title.
Career and championship record
Curcetti’s professional debut was a stoppage victory over Jasson Jose dos Santos in Bergamo on March 24, 1983. He built his early record in Italy, recording wins over opponents including Andrea Ricci, Cosimo Lavino and Francesco Mascaro. A June 1984 meeting with Luigi De Rosa ended in a draw.
His later domestic results included a points win over Antonio Renzo in Parma in March 1986. In May 1987, he defeated Daniel Londas by technical knockout in Reims, France. That victory preceded his opportunity to challenge Mitchell, whose championship schedule included defenses in several countries.
The title contest took place at Capo d’Orlando in Sicily on December 19, 1987. Mitchell retained his WBA championship when Curcetti was stopped. Historical summaries differ in whether they label the ending as retirement after eight rounds or a ninth-round stoppage, but they agree on Mitchell’s victory. Curcetti’s record contains no subsequent championship-winning rematch against him.
Mitchell’s championship chronology places this contest among the defenses of the title he had won from Alfredo Layne in 1986. Mitchell continued as champion after the Curcetti fight and later met Jim McDonnell and Salvatore Bottiglieri. Those opponents belong to Mitchell’s schedule; they do not establish additional Curcetti world-title appearances.
Curcetti resumed competition in 1988 with losses to Piero Morello and George Jones. His subsequent record includes points wins over Faical Naifer, Claudio Bicai and Michele La Fratta. He faced Londas again in October 1990 and lost by knockout, reversing the outcome of their earlier meeting.
He beat Morello by unanimous decision in Parma in June 1991, then lost two contests against Paziente Adobati. The second of those meetings, a unanimous-decision defeat in Trescore in June 1992, is his final listed professional appearance.
Sources
Additional sources: https://boxerlist.com/en/boxer/salvatore-curcetti/40384; https://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/mitch-br.htm; https://boxrec.com/wiki/index.php/WBA_Super_Featherweight_Title_Fights
