Italy provides knockout finish to world championships

By Steve Keating

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Italy provided a knockout finish to the world boxing championships when heavyweight Clemente Russo and super-heavyweight Roberto Cammarelle scored upset wins to steal the spotlight from Russia on Saturday.

Russian boxers left with a tournament best three gold medals but missed an opportunity of a record haul, settling for silvers in three other weight classes.

It had been 16 years since Tommaso Russo won Italy's only world championship gold medal, the unrelated Clemente Russo ending the drought with a narrow 7-6 decision over Russia's Rakhim Chakhkeiv.

He was followed into the ring by Cammarelle, who tamed Ukraine's Vyacheslav Glazkov 24-14 to give Italy two gold medals in 15 minutes.

The United States and England also ended gold medal droughts.

Both countries possess rich boxing traditions but that has not translated into success on the international amateur stage.

The U.S. came into the championship without a gold medal in eight years while England had never celebrated a world champion.

Both streaks ended on Saturday, flyweight Rau'shee Warren and welterweight Demetrius Andrade returning the U.S. to the top of the podium and lightweight Frankie Gavin became the first Englishman to lift a world title by out-pointing Italian Domenico Valentino 18-10.