SEAN Lazzerini's pedigree as a prizefighter runs in both the Scottish and Italian sides of the family. This 18-year-old Glasgow boxer returned home from the Commonwealth Youth Games in Samoa with a gold medal to show for his efforts, pretty good bang for his buck considering the teenager required just minutes in the ring to knock out Samoan and Tongan opponents in the semi-final then final.
In so doing, Sean lived up to the proud boxing heritage of two generations of grandparents, both paternal and maternal, although the gene in question must have skipped a few years. His own father has only recently relented after telling him to avoid a career in the fight game in preference to devoting himself to that altogether more genteel sport, rugby.
"Apparently both of my grandparents were boxers, and my great grandparents, so perhaps it is in the blood," Lazzerini told Herald Sport. "One grandparent was Italian, and one was Scottish. My granny was married to my Italian grandfather Pietro, my nonna, who was a boxer and she also showed me a picture of her father who was also a boxer, in the navy I think."
While the traditional boxer's body shape is lean and wiry, Lazzerini has a bulk about him which betrays his previous existence in the oval ball game. They call him a "lazy 75" rather than a "light 81" as he comfortably makes the weight while others have to sweat it off. What he lacks in height for this weight class he makes up for in power yet while the rest of Glasgow was transfixed by the likes of Charlie Flynn and Josh Taylor at the Commonwealth Games last year, Lazzerini was actually on a break from boxing, having been concerned that he was overtraining as he trained for both sports simultaneously.
"Maybe till I was about 14, 15 I wanted to be a rugby player, that was my thing," said Lazzerini. "That was my sport maybe from about seven, I played for Hillhead/Jordanhill and wanted to be a centre or play somewhere else in the backline. I still love rugby - I just don't get a chance to play it that much any more. When I won a British title at boxing I realised I was a wee bit better at the boxing than I was at rugby.
"There is a saying, isn't there? That rugby is a thug's sport, played by gentlemen, while football is a gentlemen's sport, played by thugs. So you usually you don't find rugby players going into boxing but they are the two sports that I really love. Originally my dad didn't want me to do boxing, he liked me doing the rugby. But now he is into the boxing more than I am. I would say rugby is a lot more dangerous. You get broken legs, broken arms, everything, while in boxing if the referee thinks you are taking too much treatment he stops it."
Flynn won silver for Scotland in the 2011 Youth Games in the Isle of Man, then upgraded it to gold in the real thing in Glasgow last summer, and Lazzerini would dearly love to do something similar when the Gold Coast games in 2018 tick round. Flynn was also present at the announcement of the 2015 team and the two men have been in conversation since.
"I have always just kind of known Charlie from being in the boxing. I train at Bellahouston Palace of Arts, and when I started up again I saw him at Peter Harrison's gym in the East End. I didn't see him before the Youth Games but he facebook messaged me to say good luck and all that.
"I didn't have many fights out in Samoa, none of us had that many fights," he added. "It was quite a small entrance - they must all have been running scared! Both of my fights didn't last longer than the first round, maybe four minutes. I enjoyed it, though, and there was a brilliant atmosphere with the rest of the team all cheering us on. I fought a Samoan and a Tongan, all local lads and they were big boys as you can imagine. But I did what I had to do against them and got the wins. I never thought I would meet anyone from Tonga, let alone fight anyone from there. It was so friendly - there was no bad blood towards anybody - win or lose.
"The Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast is definitely a goal for me but that's quite a while away. Technically I could fight as a senior now, but I have the European championships as a junior in November if I get picked. But in January I will be a senior, so the head guards are coming off, that is when it gets real, when it gets serious."
Lazzerini - currently studying for an HNC in health, fitness and exercise at Clyde College's Anniesland Campus - is also a student of boxing. Aside from the Rocky movies and Ricky Hatton, he idolises Roberto Duran on the all time list and Saul Alvarez from the current crop. "He is a ginger Mexican, so perhaps that is why I like him," says Lazzerini.
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