He moved up to the 201 lbs category and exited early at the World championships 2005 and the European championships 2006.
In 2007 he lost the European Championships final to Elias Pavlidis, at the World Championships he easily beat Englishman Daniel Price, 2005 medalist Alexander Povernov (PTS 17–5) and won the quarterfinals against Milorad Gajović (Montenegro) to qualify for Beijing. He beat Chinese Yushan Nijiati to reach the finals where he edged out Russian top favorite Rakhim Chakkhiev 7–6.
In the 2008 Olympics he won the silver medal, losing the final round and so the competition to Rakhim Chakkhiev. He carried the Italian flag at the Beijing closing ceremony.[4]
In the World Series of Boxing he boxed for Italia Thunder team. He received the "Winner WSB Heavyweight Individual World Champion 2011" and "Winner WSB Team World Champion 2012" awards.
Outside of his athletic career, in 2011 Russo debuted as an actor in the drama film Tatanka.[5]
In 2019, he was the Italian flag bearer at the European Games in Minsk.[4]
Russo retired from boxing on 22 July 2021 after unsuccessfully requesting a wild card to compete at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.[7]
Personal life
Russo worked as a police officer. He credits boxing with teaching him English and self discipline.[8]
He married former international judo competitor Laura Maddaloni [it] in 2008,[9] they have three daughters.[2][10] Since retiring from boxing, Russo has participated in a number of reality shows on Italian television, including Big Brother VIP in 2016 and as a correspondent for Le Iene. In 2022, he appeared with his wife on the Italian reality show L'isola dei famosi.[7]
