To become the first medallist for the home team can be the stuff of dreams, and today those dreams came true for Domenico Valentino of Italy who beat his Cuban counterpart in the lightweight quarter-finals of the AIBA World Championships in Milan.
Valentino, from the southern town of Marcianise in Campanie province, dominated the first seed Idel Torriente and the final score was 10-5 in favour of Valentino. "My game plan was simple," he said. "Let the Cuban attack, let him lose patience, and then counter-punch when the occasion arises. I thought I was able to do what my coach Francesco Damiani had advised.
"Tomorrow I'll go shopping in order to free my mind from the concerns of the semi-finals," Valentino said. The Italian boxer has an unusual tattoo on his arm - a monkey in boxing gloves. "It's nice, isn't it?" he said when asked about the meaning of the tattoo.
After Torriente's defeat the Cuban team was in dire need of a victory and Yankiel Alarcón León, the top seed at bantamweight delivered it. But what else could have been expected from a guy who was born and still lives in Las Tunas, the home province of the legendary Teófilo Stevenson?
Having moved up to bantamweight, León diplayed his defensive prowess by overcoming Kanat Abutalipov of Kazakhstan 2-0. The 27-year-old Olympic silver medallist met Abutalipov in Beijing last year, when he beat him 10-3.
"It was a much tougher encounter this time," León said. "Abutalipov paid a lot of attention to his defence. I had been confident before the match. Before I left Cuba for the World Championships I had received some pieces of advice from Teófilo, who is a friend of mine. It was very useful. I have to repeat: defence was the key to this victory."
China seem to have found the successor to the Olympic and twice world champion Zou Shiming. The newcomer, Li Jiazhao, defeated top seed Lukasz Maszczyk of Poland to reach the 48kg semi-finals with an easy victory.
Young John Joe Nevin of Ireland at the age of 20 is not a very experienced boxer but he looks like a veteran when entering the ring. He had the match of his life against Gu Yu of China, leading 5-2 in the third round before the Chinese cut the lead to one point at 6-5.
"I became a little nervous at that point, I cast a glance to my coaches and they gestured to me to keep my patience," said Nevin. "I did, waiting for the occasion which finally came, and I was able to score." He won the bout 7-5 and goes on to the semis where he will meet Eduard Abzalimov of Russia.
"John is an exceptional talent, capable of accomplishing anything he wants," Nevin's coach, Jim Moore said. "He is astonishingly mature for his age, and he showed today again that he has the heart of a lion." It was Moore who had discovered Nevin's talent when the boy was 15 years old.
In the super-heavyweight category the perfect Russian record of the afternoon session was destroyed by Belorussian Olympic silver medallist from Athens Viktar Zuyeu, who defeated heavily favoured Denis Sergeev. Even so, Nikolay Khromov, head coach of the Russian national team, cannot be disappointed by five wins out of six, with three more boxers in the evening session.
To crown the afternoon for the home fans Roberto Cammarelle moved through to the semi-final with a hard-fought but deserved victory over Bulgarian veteran Kubrat Pulev. The final score - 12-6 to Cammarelle - does not tell the story of how tough the contest was and Cammarelle had to cut short the interview session after the bout because of an ugly bruise under his swollen left eye that needed medical treatment.