Valerio Nati (born April 11, 1956 in

Dovadola Dovadola ( rgn, Dvêdla) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Forlì-Cesena in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about southeast of Bologna and about southwest of Forlì, on the road leading to Florence. Dovadola borders th ...

, Italy) is a former Italian professional boxer.

Professional career

Nati turned professional in 1978 under the management of Giorgio Bonetti. He won the Italian bantamweight title from Giuseppe Fossati in his 11th fight in 1979, and the vacant European Bantamweight title in a bout against Juan Francisco Rodríguez the following year. Between 1981 and 1982, Nati defended his title five times in matches against Vicente Rodriguez, John Feeney, Jean-Jacques Souris, Luis De La Sagra, and Esteban Eguia. However, he struggled to get down to 118 lbs. for his fight with Fossati in 1982 and lost the title to his rival. A rematch with Fossati the following year was fought to a draw. In 1983, Nati lost two matches for the

European Boxing Union The European Boxing Union (EBU), formerly known as the International Boxing Union (IBU), is a pan-European governing body that sanctions championship bouts in professional boxing. The EBU governs the most-prestigious continental title in Europe, th ...

Featherweight title. The following year, Bonetti retired and Nati chose

Umberto Branchini Umberto Branchini (1914-1997) was an Italian boxing promoter and manager. Born in Modena, Italy, on 17 July 1914, he promoted or arranged fights on six continents during his career, which lasted for over fifty years. He was elected into the Inter ...

as his new manager. Between 1984 and 1987 Nati racked up 14 consecutive victories to get another shot at the European Featherweight title, which he won against Marc Amand in two rounds. After six more victories, he had a

World Boxing Council The World Boxing Council (WBC) is an international professional boxing organization. It is among the four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation ...

Super Bantamweight title opportunity against Daniel Zaragoza, but was knocked out in the 5th round. He rebounded from the loss, challenging World Boxing Organization Super Bantamweight champion

Kenny Mitchell Kenny Mitchell (born February 7, 1960 in Stockton, CA) is a former professional boxer. Amateur career Mitchell won the New York Golden Gloves three times. He won the 112 lb Open Championships in 1978, 1979 and 1980. Mitchell was defeated ...

and winning by disqualification. However, Nati lost his first defense of the WBO title to Puerto Rican

Orlando Fernandez Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures relea ...

, and eventually retired in 1991. From 2012 to 2014 he was a part of the World Series of Boxing Dolce & Gabbana Milano Thunder team that won the 2011–2012 World Championship in London.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nati, Valerio 1956 births Living people Italian male boxers Bantamweight boxers Super-bantamweight boxers featherweight boxers World super-bantamweight boxing champions World Boxing Organization champions

Professional career

See also

External links