Giovanni De Carolis hopes to claim Daniele Scardina’s WBO intercontinental super middleweight championship to push on to even greater heights on Friday.
The fight headlines a card shown live around the world on DAZN, and sees the two Italians come to battle it out for the WBO strap.
De Carolis (30-10-1, 14 KOs) has more than twice as many fights as Scardina (20-0, 16 KOs) and also once held the WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight championship. Despite his 10 defeats, he is an experienced name and a stern test for the incumbent champion.
Speaking to BoxingScene.com, De Carolis warned his 30-year-old opponent: “I am in top shape and confident to win too. It’s normal that every fighter is confident to win. I also had a great training camp.
“Besides training at my gym in Monterosi and at coach Italo Mattioli’s gym in Rome, I also trained in England. I went to Portsmouth at Michael Bellinghall’s gym where I sparred with two undefeated pros: welterweight Michael McKinson (22-0) and middleweight Aaron Sutton (13-0). Then I trained at Matchroom Gym in Essex. Both experiences were useful to me.”
The 37-year-old said his track record would be an advantage, explaining: “Every fight is different, but there’s no question that experience counts. I want to point out that about half of my fights had a title on the line.”
“I am proud to be one of the stars of the fight of the year. Like Daniele said, I would be happy if this fight brought people back to the arena who stopped watching boxing long ago and also new people who never bought a ticket for a boxing show.”
After all these years in the sport and 41 fights, De Carolis is not planning to walk away.
“I never lost interest for the fight game,” he stated. “That’s why I opened a gym in Monterosi. After I retire, I want to keep being involved in boxing. After 41 pro fights, I still want to get in the ring and go far. That’s why this fight is so important to me. If I become WBO Intercontinental champion new doors could open for me in the super middleweight division.”