In Guadalajara a week before the start of the competition to accustom to Mexican weather conditions, the Italian Boxing Team has one big hope for the upcoming 1st AIBA World Youth Championships (October 25-November 1).

Eighteen-year-old, from Campania, an area which is the cradle of Italian Boxing, Francesco Nespro is the diamond point of the Italian expedition.

Unlike his two companions, Gianluca Rosciglione, 17, from Sicily, and Samuel Giacomoni, 18, from Trentino Alto Adige, Nespro already has top class experience having participated in both the World and European Cadet tournaments, whilst winning a bronze at the European Champs last year in Siofok, Hungary.

He won also the gold in Porto Torres, Italy, at the European Union Cadet Championships 2007.

"The youth boxing activity in Italy is less practised than other countries such as Russia, Cuba, Hungary, or the Ukraine", the Italian Boxing team coach Maurizio Stecca said.

"In those countries, boxing is practised since a younger age. Still, we are here to do our best. My boxers and me have faith that we can have a great tournament".

Olympic Featherweight Gold Medallist in Los Angeles 1984, Stecca, knows that this experience will be valuable for the career of his pupils.

"As athletes and as men, this opportunity will have great importance in their life", he commented.

With three boxers coming from the north, the centre, and the south, the Italian team in Mexico is hoping to unify the whole nation.