FORMER Olympian Burruni entered the paid ranks for the first time in 1957
and won the Italian flyweight title in his 13th fight. A loss to Albert Younsi
in 1960 saw his record stand at 19-3-1. From there he kicked on to rack up
62 wins in a row. He collected the European belt in 1961 and became WBA
and WBC champion in April 1965 with a victory over Pone Kingpetch. He
was stripped of both titles for failing to meet his mandatory challengers,
and his winning streak was ended in August 1965 in a loss to Horacio
Accavallo. In his 62 victories he beat Younsi twice, Mimoun Ben Ali, Pierre
Rossi, Rene Libeer and Walter McGowan.
9 SALVATORE BURRUNI
62-0, Alghero, Italyhttp://www.boxingnewsonline.net JANUARY 11, 2018 lBOXING NEWSl 29
Photo: RONALD SPENCER/ASSOCIATED NEWSPAPERS/REX/SHUT TERSTOCKTHE Mexican had his first pro fight in 1965 at the age of 18, and scored
24 inside-schedule wins in a row. He cut a swathe through the ranks of
the bantamweight division until he lost his WBA and WBC titles to Chucho
Castillo in 1970.
During that run, Olivares not only beat the best, he destroyed them
as he recorded 57 victories inside the distance. The draw came when he
fought German Bastidas with an injured arm and was only able to use his
left, and he knocked out that opponent in a return match. Top names such
as Salvatore Burruni, Joe Medel, Lionel Rose and Alan Rudkin all fell early at
the hands of the destructive Mexico City man.10 RUBEN OLIVARES
61-0-1, Mexico City, MexicoANOTHER Italian, Loi turned pro in 1948 and made an impressive start,
winning the Italian title and going undefeated in his first 37 fights, but that
was just the beginning. He suffered his first loss to Dane Jorgen Johansen
for the European lightweight belt in 1952, but was then unbeaten in his
next 72 bouts. He won the European lightweight and welterweight titles,
before losing a split decision to Carlos Ortiz for the world super-lightweight
crown in 1960. He would win the championship in the rematch. During his
unbeaten run he scored wins over Johansen, Bruno Visintin, Glen Flanagan,
Fred Galiana, Piet van Klaveren, Fernand Nollet, Wallace Bud Smith, Mario
Vecchiatto and Tommy Molloy.
7 DUILIO LOI
67-0-5, Milan, ItalyITALY’S Benvenuti turned pro in January 1961 after winning a gold medal at
the Rome Olympics and being reportedly unbeaten in almost 120 amateur
fights. He built a run of 56 consecutive victories in five years. Along the
way he won the Italian and European middleweight titles, and in one of
the biggest fights in the history of Italian boxing he knocked out Sandro
Mazzinghi in 1965 to win the WBA and WBC super-welterweight belts,
before losing a very controversial split decision to South Korean Ki-Soo Kim
on away turf in 1966. He scored wins over the likes of Isaac Logart, Gaspar
Ortega, Carlo Duran, Denny Moyer, Art Hernandez, Mick Leahy, Luis Folledo
and Don Fullmer.“WILL O’ THE WISP” Pep is surely one of the most talented fighters ever to
pull on a pair of gloves. The American had his first pro fight in July 1940 at
the age of 17 and opened his career with a run of 62 wins (so could have
made this list twice), before losing a very close points decision to former
world lightweight champion Sammy Angott in 1943. After that, Pep was
unbeaten in his next 73 bouts until losing his world featherweight title to
Sandy Saddler in October 1948. At that point he had crammed 136 fights
into eight years, and gone 134-1-1. He claimed wins over Joey Archibald,
Chalky Wright, Manuel Ortiz, Lulu Costantino, Jackie Wilson, Sal Bartolo and
Paddy DeMarco, all of whom held a version of a world title in their careers.8 NINO BENVENUTI
65-0, Trieste, Italy6 WILLIE PEP
72-0-1, Hartford, Connecticut