CANADA’S DONATO PADUANO

In the late 1960’s and throughout the 1970’s there was a smooth Italian born boxer who fought out of Canada. He was tough and fearless. He had great moves and a fine jab. The only thing he lacked was punching power and that probably kept him from reaching the top of his sport.

Donato Paduano turned professional in 1968. He moved up the ranks quickly beating useful opponents like Dorman Crawford, Juan Ramos, Colin Fraser, Pablo Lopez and Pat Murphy. He appeared at Madison Square Garden’s Felt Forum and the Garden itself where he became quite popular. A year after turning pro he out pointed Joey Durelle to win the Canadian welterweight title. He beat Durelle in a rematch. Then at the Garden he created quite a stir when he won a decision over Marcel Cerdan Jr. Young Marcel came in with a glossy 47-1-1 record but was just outboxed by the talented Paduano. Cerdan Jr. proved to be no fluke. After the loss to Paduano he beat Dario Hidalgo, drew with former junior welterweight champion Sandro Lopopolo and lost decisions to top contenders Clyde Gray and Robert Gallois.

The win over Cerdan Jr. led to a non-title fight with the newly crowned world lightweight champion Ken Buchanan of Scotland. The flashy Scot had upset Ismael Laguna to win the title and now the Garden wanted to showcase him. Paduano proved to be a worthy foe and in a great fight for boxing purists, Buchanan outslicked Donato over ten rounds. In 1971 Paduano lost his Canadian title to rugged Clyde Gray. Then he was upset over ten rounds by Danny McAloon. He fought a draw with Fernand Marcotte and then defeated Marcotte in a 1972 rematch. Donato then won a verdict over the aging former welterweight great Luis Rodriguez, He then split a pair of decisions with Reynold Cantin.

In 1973 Paduano failed to regain the Canadian welterweight title losing to reigning champion Ray Chavez Guerrero. Later in the year he was the stopped in the eleven round by Australian Charkey Ramon for the Commonwealth, British Empire junior middleweight titles. Donato then reeled off six straight victories including a knockout of highly touted Jean Claude LeClair. In 1974 Paduano met a legend in Emile Griffith. Emile was on the downside of his great career but he had enough left to outscore Donato.

Paduano would have five more fights winning only two of them. He hung up the gloves in 1980. He had fifty-two fights. His overall record was a fine 41-9-2. He only scored fifteen knockouts but he was stopped just once. He was a crowd pleaser and a class act.