“I don’t just play boxing, I live for boxing”. A life spent for boxing, from the age of 16, when this ancient discipline appeared on his path, which could have taken a bad turn, and saved him. Giorgio Pipia is a passionate man, who flies into the canvas of the memories of his past and who is still today building a present made of commitment, dedication and passion.
“You can’t make a living with boxing, it’s not one of those sports that makes you earn a lot of money – he says. So I have always worked, first as a worker and then as a security guard. Work and family have always been first in my thoughts, but boxing has always been in my heart”.
Boxing entered his life in 1975 and has never come out of it: 190 matches, 2 years in the Italian national team, 26 years as a professional. On that squared circle he fought against names such as Nati, Oliva, Stecca, men with whom, despite “having beaten the living hell out of them on the ring” today he is in close friendship.
Because this is boxing. Apparently just giving and receiving punches, but in essence a discipline that brings with it fundamental values: respect, education, self-control. The same values that today Giorgio Pipia, as a retiree, teaches all the boys who join his Boxe Team Pipia.
Boxe Team Pipia is a small reality based in Concesio, where it moved in 2020. Giorgio Pipia is a bit like Rocky’s Mickey Goldmill and his gym is that world where people of all kinds approach and enter the world of boxing. Over time Giorgio has trained over 300 boys, aged 12 to 50, and some of them have taken the path of competition.
“Some come attracted by the ancient art of boxing, others are just curious, others come because they want to learn how to defend themselves from bullies, and there are those who believe themselves to be bullies and do not know that they will learn a discipline. Many boys arrive sent by social services, because boxing is also a therapy to improve yourself.” Giorgio’s tireless work and passion have been made possible even by those who believe in him and in what he does.
In the front row cheering for the Pipia Boxing Team, there is Metallurgica San Marco, official partner of the small gym in Concesio. Like other Brescia realities, MSM supports the team for the philosophy it pursues, because it wants to give concrete help to all those local realities that focus on talent and promote the healthy values of sport.
“I met Marco Gambarini, president of Metallurgica San Marco, some time ago. – concludes Pipia – His innate sporting nature, his desire to achieve good things for the territory, and his desire to encourage young people, immediately got us in tune. Thanks to the enormous help of Metallurgica San Marco, we can give all the support to our boys and offer them an environment that is capable, we really hope, of giving life to new champions of tomorrow “.
