Gavino Matta
Encyclopedia
Gavino Matta was an Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 boxer
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics
1936 Summer Olympics
The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was held in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin won the bid to host the Games over Barcelona, Spain on April 26, 1931, at the 29th IOC Session in Barcelona...

. He was born in Sassari.

In 1936, Matta won the silver medal in the flyweight class after losing the final fight to Willy Kaiser, the German competitor. The American, Lou Laurie, won the bronze. In the final fight for the title, Kaiser attacked Matta from the outset, forcing the tempo at close quarters and keeping Matta at bay. When Matta tried to fight back Kaiser pushed the pace. Towards the end of the fight the Italian tired and Kaiser wrapped up a points decision and Germany's first ever boxing gold. The two men met again a year later in the European championship with the same results, although this time it was for the bronze medal. Matta and Lauria later turned professional with Matta going on to become the Italian champion. In 1937 Europe's boxing champions, including Matta, competed against the Golden Gloves in international fights.

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