Carmelo Ballone

[micky]

Cannot find out much about Ballone and he comes to Britain next week to face Ian Napa for Ballone's Euro crown.

His record is good enough but no one seems to know anything about him and I cannot even find someone who has seen him box

Come on guys there is so much knowledge on this board from you Euro guys and I respect your opinions very much, tell me about Ballone

Thanks

[jamel]

Cannot find out much about Ballone and he comes to Britain next week to face Ian Napa for Ballone's Euro crown.

His record is good enough but no one seems to know anything about him and I cannot even find someone who has seen him box

Come on guys there is so much knowledge on this board from you Euro guys and I respect your opinions very much, tell me about Ballone

Thanks

I found this article online

After cleaning out the bantamweight division in his native Belgium, 32-year-old Ballone, 21-2 (10), proved his pugilistic acumen on a wider playing field by capturing the European Union belt against Spanish bomb thrower Ivan Pozo in 2003, which led to a close and controversial split decision loss to European kingpin Simone Maludrottu in the champion’s home country of Italy two years later.

Ballone got another opportunity at European honors and made the best of it by stopping Romanian spoiler Eugen Sorin Tanasie in 2007 to claim the vacant title. In May, Ballone crushed the challenge of Valery Yanchy, extinguishing the Belarus titlist in the tenth round.

[jamel]

Judging by the fact that Napa lost to Simone Maludrottu at home in the UK clearly on pts & Ballone lost a close controversial split decision in Maludrottu's home country of Italy. It would seem to suggest that at least against Maludrottu, Ballone was the more effective fighter. Also Ballone's only other loss was by disqualification where he was ahead at the time.

I expect Ballone to win a close decision.

[Eihtwonder]

Having seen Ballone a couple of times in Belgium, he's a slick boxer with pretty decent punch. He works often with a low guard and is quite busy. He's not a slugger, as presented in ESB article about the fight vs Napa. He's not "the great" technical boxer, but he's a complete fighter with good experience, having fought in Italy for the european crown for example.

I do not know Napa very much, but I see this as a very tactical battle with a little advantage for Ballone...