Saturday, the 19th of April, Sala Polivalenta, Bucharest. The most important boxing event ever held in the Romanian capital, the “Invincible” Night gathered boxing enthusiasts from around the country, in a special event.
THE EVENT
The Event began at 18.30, with the game between Canadian Carl Handy and Russian Vasily An- driyanov. The Canadian – Adrian Diaconu’s sparing partner – over- came Andriyanov without forcing himself too much, and the audi- ence greeted the first win of the night.
In the next match, Cristian Hodorogea from Iasi fought Spaniard Raul Asencio Cerisuelo, trying and succeeding, after four rounds, to remain unbeaten in the professional circuit. After the third game, Silvio Branco (Italy) – Ab- delkader Benzinia (France), ended with the victory of the imposing Italian, another promising Roman- ian youngster raised by Interbox entered the stage, Ion Ionut Dan, or Jo Jo Dan by his stage name, met the famous Raul Balbi, who had suffered only one loss in his entire career (over 60 games, of which 38 won by KO) at the hands of Leonard Doroftei. The second loss would also occur in Bucharest, by the fist of another Romanian. Jo Jo Dan sent the Ar- gentine to the floor after only 3 rounds (out of 10), and managed to win the NABA heavyweight title. The moment of the decisive hit raised the audience of the Poliva- lenta for the first time, in celebra- tion of the Romanian’s amazing victory.
DIACONU-HENRY
The main-event of the night of Saturday, the 19th of April was the match between Adrian Diaconu and American Chris Henry.
Dressed in t-shirts printed by the City Hall with the message “All for Adrian” and with Romanian paper flags, the audience filled the “Poli- valenta” Hall in order to witness, for the first time in Romania, a world ti- tle being granted to a Romanian. “White Tyson”, a nickname given by the press, or “The Shark” as he prefers to be called, beat American Chris Henry on points, after 12 rounds. The 12 rounds were ex- tremely balanced, with hooks, jabs and uppercuts by the boxers, pres- sure, nerves and protests. At the post-game press conference, American Chris Henry and his staff contested the refereeing, suggest- ing that, while Adrian was a difficult opponent, he won the game be- cause it took place in Romania.
“Everybody considers Adrian Dia- conu the white Mike Tyson, but we have the real Mike Tyson” said Henry’s coach at the press confer- ence. Asked whether it was the hardest game of his career, Henry replied that it certainly wasn’t the hardest game, but Adrian won the fight because it took place in his home country. The American’s team Bucharest convinced that Adrian Diaconu was favored by the Canadian referee, but was im- pressed by the atmosphere at the Polivalenta. “This was the best au- dience in my career. It was fantas- tic and I think I will come back” said Chris Henry.
On the other side, the new world champion, Adrian Diaconu, admitted that the first words he said to the reporters immediately after the match with Henry were the hardest in his career, as the American was his toughest oppo- nent so far, but he is happy that he managed to win the world title. “To- wards the end I haven’t made the best rounds in my life, but I was smarter than him and I managed to maintain what I achieved in the first eight rounds”. “I lived extraordi- nary moments, the audience was amazing, you can only feel what I felt tonight if you take up boxing”.
In response to Henry’s accusations regarding the refereeing, Diaconu said: “Who cares what he is saying now?! The belt is here!”. Within 120 days from this victory, Diaconu must fight Chad Dawson, the cur- rent holder of the WBC diamond belt, and should he win, he will be- come the undisputed mid- dleweight champion. If Dawson re- fuses to play, the Romanian will automatically be granted the belt.
THE AUDIENCE
Important names of Romanian sports took part at the event held at the Polivalenta to support the Romanian boxers, and especially Adrian Diaconu. Among those present at the event were Victor and Giovanni Becali, national foot- ball team coach Victor Piturca, for- mer Steaua owner Viorel Paunes- cu, the President of the Romanian Football Federation, Mircea Sandu, the President of the Professional Football League, Mitica Dragomir. Also present in the hall were the former Romanian boxing champi- ons, Leonard Doroftei and Mihai Leu as well as gymnast Andreea Raducanu. They all declared Adri- an Diaconu winner even before of the start of the game with American Chris Henry, being convinced that “The Shark” is in great form and he will fill the audience with pride. The one person who fully supported the Romanian boxers throughout the entire event was world champion Lucian Bute, who arrived from Canada together with Adrian Dia- conu and Jo Jo Dan. Elegant and extremely charismatic, Bute was among the favorites of the media.
He encouraged the fighters and was very tense during the matches, although the odds were for the Ro- manian boxers. Visibly touched by the fact that he was home again, Bute said that Adrian Diaconu and Jo Jo Dan, his colleagues at the Canadian club Interbox share the same emotion. “It is an honor for them to box in front of their sup- porters, of the Romanian fans, and I believe they will make them feel proud. He too hopes he will make the Romanians proud after the match which will most probably take place in October with the im- posed challenger, Ignacio An- drade, and which he is sure he will win. “I will keep the belt” promised Lucian Bute.
THE ORGANIZATION
With this event, the Romanian Boxing Federation managed to start a series of extremely important events in Bucharest. “It is a great victory for Romanian boxing and for Romania, because such a hap- pening, as Chris Henry said, is rarely seen even in the US. I think we proved what Romanians are ca- pable of. This is the real face of Ro- manian boxing. I am proud of this event, especially since president Basescu was present” said Rudel Obreja at the end of the night. The event was organized with the sup- port of the City Hall. Agreeing with Bute’s opinion that “the capital of boxing has moved to Bucharest”, mayor Videanu said that although he is not good at boxing, because in politics “there are no punches given or taken”, he is near Roman- ian athletes and he hopes this does not remain the only important event held in Bucharest.
ARTE VIZUALE/MEDIA
