Continued from the First. Rino represented boxing for everyone

by Leo Turrini

No. Rino Tommasi, originally from Verona but raised in San Benedetto del Tronto, made the dream of multitudes of journalists come true because he "was" the boxing. The boxing. The Noble Art. Without his intuition, the last Italy would perhaps be happy, that of the reviled The eighties, would not have been seduced by the epic finale of a forgotten culture. The ring cultureIt was Tommasi who introduced a generation of Italians to the fury of Mike Tyson. In his youth, Rino had organized boxing matches, he had personally set up the historic rematch between Nino Benvenuti and Sandro Mazzinghi. And when, two decades later, he came across a videotape of the young Iron Mike, well, he didn't hesitate: he went to Silvio Berlusconi, at the time the "only" owner of Canale 5, and convinced him to buy the terrible youngster's matches exclusively for Italy.

Those who were there know it. That was a sort of revolution with punches on live TV: Tommasi's "very personal card", his sentence after each round, became part of the common language, it was a catchphrase in comedians' sketches, in short Rino had invented a language and had identified himself, yes he!, with the feats he narrated. Tyson, Hagler, Hearns, Leonard, Duran and Rino: indivisible and essential.

I know that rhetoric requires me to state, at this point, that obviously everything has changed and perhaps things were better when they were worse and bla bla bla. Usually it's not true, but this time yes, in Rino's case yes. We met for the first time at a summer friendly between Sambenedettese and Juventus, 1987: he was already an idol, but he had the humility of someone who doesn't need compliments. And since, to paraphrase Antonello Venditti, certain professional loves go through immense circles and then come back, well, in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics he came looking for me because he wanted to follow the Greco-Roman wrestling final next to me in which Andrea Minguzzi from Imola was competing. I told him: I'll accept only if you draw up your very own card.

He started laughing. But he played along. Minguzzi won the gold and the Chinese never understood why we hugged each other so tightly at the end of the match.

Thirty all, Rino.