From boxing to Florentine football. The story of Paolo Bologna

Having been Italian super-welterweight champion, Paolo Bologna has won the European Silver middleweight title, whilst awaiting his rival Dario Morello to win the EBU Gold (the bout is scheduled for 22 August in London) before potentially challenging him, given that both are managed by the TAF. Still unbeaten at the age of 29, Bologna is one of Italy’s finest boxers – a fighter to watch in these not-always-happy times for Italian boxing. The Florentine will certainly have no shortage of photos of himself posing with a belt in his hand, but on WhatsApp his profile picture shows him as a ‘calciante’ (a player of ‘calcio storico’), as he grew up in the world of this traditional Italian football game and has now become one of its leading figures. As a child, he moved with his family to the Ponte di Mezzo neighbourhood; right below his council flat is the training ground where the ‘Azzurri’ team prepares for their matches against the ‘Rossi’, ‘Bianchi’ and ‘Verdi’ of historic football. The Azzurri’s neighbourhood is Santa Croce, and Ponte di Mezzo is one of those outlying areas where you simply cannot support another colour. At fifteen, Paolo joined a gym and took up boxing; at sixteen, he began training with the Azzurri, but you couldn’t play until you were of age, and as soon as he turned eighteen, he made his debut. “My first match felt like a dream,” Bologna tells “Il Foglio Sportivo”, “and like a nightmare – I weighed 67 kilos and there were burly forty-year-olds weighing a quintal. When the match ended, I said to myself: I’m alive. We lost that time, but I realised that we won as a team, as a group.”

Since then, he’s been a regular in the Azzurri’s 27-man squad; today he’s one of the team’s key players and one of the city’s best-known faces, partly thanks to his boxing. In the last semi-final, he even scored a ‘caccia’ (i.e. a goal), something he doesn’t usually do. “In the semi-final, I threw a few punches and took a few blows myself. I was right at the front, defending the others and throwing punches. Then, though, there was a bit of a scuffle between the coaches and the standard-bearers, and I caused a bit of a ruckus to defend our captain; the rules, however, state that you can only touch the players, not the standard-bearers.” So he watched the final from the stands, suspended for unsporting behaviour. “It was really tough not being able to play, especially as my best friend was making his debut; I gave him my kit, he played in my position and was brilliant – I was right by the net, ready to step in if anything happened to him.” The Azzurri triumphed on home turf in the event held, as always on 24 June, in Piazza Santa Croce, to coincide with the feast of St John the Baptist, the city’s patron saint, thereby adding to a roll of honour that sees them in the lead with 25 victories. The Whites have 18, the Reds 11 and the Greens 2. The most famous match took place on 17 February 1530, again in Piazza Santa Croce, played during the siege of Florence as an act of mockery towards the imperial troops of Charles V. ‘Calcio in livrea’ has been a regular fixture again since 1930, the year in which the modern tournament was revived. The four historic districts of the old city compete against one another: the Greens of San Giovanni, the Whites of Santo Spirito, the Blues of Santa Croce and the Reds of Santa Maria Novella.

Bologna is not the only Florentine boxer taking part in costumed football. Cutmen have also come over from the world of boxing to apply hand wraps, although these are more similar to those used in bare-knuckle boxing. As well as the hands, Federico Catizione’s team – the first to offer this service – also wraps the ankles.

Leonardo Balli is the other professional boxer who has played for the Azzurri. “They’d been calling me for three or four years,” he explains, “but I was 100 per cent focused on boxing. This year, thanks to a sabbatical and an injury whilst training, the opportunity arose. It’s an indescribable feeling: even though I’d already stepped into the ring and won major titles, I thought taking to the streets with my teammates would be a bit of a daft idea. Instead, ever since the week before, it’s been a constant mix of emotions. They always told me: ‘Once you try it, you can’t do without it.’ One stand cheers you on, the other boos you… it’s something indescribable. Just one match is enough for Calcio Storico to get under your skin. My idol in boxing is Lomachenko; in Calcio Storico it’s ‘Zena’, Gabriele Ceccherelli. When he played, no matter how important the match might be, it always seemed as though he was just out on the pitch with his mates – such was the confidence he exuded and passed on to his teammates. A legend.” Balli, like Bologna, also missed the final. He was out due to injury. “Watching it from the sidelines,” continues Balli, “was even harder than playing in it. Feeling part of the team and not being able to take to the pitch to help my teammates was really tough. Luckily, we’ve got a brilliant squad: from the captain to the coach, right through to the chairman, they’ve taken care of every little detail for this final. And we, as a team, are really close-knit.”

Bologna, in your opinion, what does it take to be a ‘calciante’? “Boxing helps; everyone has the basics. We also train in rugby and wrestling throughout the year. In my view, there’s a bit of chess involved too, to understand when to move in and when to move out, and above all to keep your eyes peeled at all times. As a boxer, the uppercut is my go-to move, but it’s dangerous in Florentine football because it leaves you too exposed, and with bare hands you risk taking a heavy punch. A high guard and a right jab is the best solution: a crisp one-two. There’s a sort of code of ethics, just like in boxing – you have to face your opponent head-on, not from behind; if you mess up, you’ll pay for it the following year. From the side, from behind, two against one: that’s not allowed. In the past, for a while, they used to bring in foreigners too, but I didn’t like that; historic football is great just as it is, without money – you do it for the neighbourhood.”

Meanwhile, Dario Morello is waiting in the wings, set to face George Liddard in England shortly. “Let’s hope Morello wins,” says Bologna, “so maybe he’ll defend the European title against me. I will have to support him, even though I cannot stand him. I know it is merely trash-talking on his part, but I do not appreciate that sort of attitude. When we were due to face each other in a match that ended up being called off because of him, he wore the Reds’ shirt to provoke me, but he knows nothing about historic football. We give our all for Florentine football and he is merely clowning about! I really can’t stand him. I used to be much more impulsive, but since I’ve had a mental coach I’m more thoughtful and therefore more dangerous, because I haven’t lost my competitive edge. Before every match or before a game of historic football, but also during the toughest moments of my life, I go to take refuge in church and I feel at peace.” His ‘Azzurri’ friends follow him to every match, so much so that they manage to fill the arenas – something not always a given in Italian boxing. It would be interesting to see what might happen if the TAF organised a title fight for him in Florence. “Now when I fight, I’ve got the whole city behind me, not just the ‘Azzurri’. Florence respects me and loves me.” But if he’d scheduled a bout for a prestigious world boxing title on 24 June, what would he choose? “Good question. The team is strong anyway, and if there were a world title fight one year, my teammates would be the first to tell me to go – ‘you’re always with us anyway’. We’re all one.”