Is it simply symptomatic of a life time spent following boxing that the names of the past should begin to recur in the present? A combination of genetics and the pre-disposition to compete imparted watching a Father fighting professionally perhaps leads sons, and daughters, to punch for pay.

Success, as in all vocations, is not guaranteed by the leverage of a surname but it can create opportunity and frequently improves remuneration for those willing to grab the baton and pursue a career in the sport. Chris Eubank Jnr. and Conor Benn are two topical examples of the notion. Their careers have been financially successful and both have become, by routes that are most kindly described as circuitous, stars in their own right. If not the champions their fathers were.

This isn't a new phenomenon of course, Ross and Alan Minter, Marvis and Joe Frazier and Junior and Senior Julio Cesar Chavez are three examples in the foreground but there are many more emerging, Fernando Vargas now has two sons boxing professionally, and luminous mega stars like Floyd Mayweather Jnr and his father Senior of course, Leon and Cory Spinks. The list is long and myriad instances are sprinkled across the decades.

Eventually, in the purest sport of all those advantages are tested in the furnace of a fight and no amount of good will or dynastic renown will prevent a fighter finding their level, or more precisely, their respective ceiling.

Less well known is Italian Armando Casamonica, the son and nephew of fighters, he boxes for the vacant European Super-Lightweight belt on Saturday night against Jon Fernandez in the Spaniard's home town of Bilbao. His name is not as familiar as those above, but Casamonica's father Allessandro was a solid and capable Lightweight in the 1990s, his older brother Romolo before him.  I remember 'Sandro' for withdrawing three times from European title fights with Bobby Vanzie, all on just a few days notice. The preening and powerful Bradford-man was a fine if awkward British champion and deserving of the opportunity but was left out of pocket and inactive for almost a year. Speaking with Vanzie in his home back in 2004, he was certain Sandro was never serious about making the fight despite the Italian’s promoter having secured the rights with a bid of 144,000 Euros. Vanzie's share would have been a career high purse. I'm not sure Vanzie was ever the same after that wasted year.

When eventually the Vanzie fight drifted away, Jason Cook did fight Sandro Casamonica for the same title, climbing off the canvas in the second the Welshman upset the odds to knock the Italian out in three rounds in 2002. Sandro had one shot at version of the World title too; losing to Artur Grigorian in 2000 and finished his career with a defeat to Pauli Malignaggi two years after the loss to Cook.

The name may not carry the gravitas in boxing circles of a Mayweather or Spinks but the Casamonica surname is one Armando has had to explain his whole professional career.  50 years of links to organised crime has left an indelible mark against anyone carrying the name in his native Italy. 7 years ago, the Italian authorities in Rome entered, seized and ultimately bulldozed 30 properties built and owned by the family in an attempt to undermine their organisation and achieve some restoration for their reign. In August 2015, at the family patriarch Vittorio Casamonica's funeral, a horse drawn cortege was accompanied by a band playing the Godfather theme tune as it arrived at the church and a helicopter overheard dropped flower petals on to the crowds below. The perceived arrogance of the procession proved the catalyst for greater attention for the family and a series of investigations that led to several members of the clan being imprisoned began.

Armando has a long shadow to escape if the connotations of his name are to be more positive and focussed on his own accomplishments. 

Against Fernandez, far from the spotlight that will mainly be shining on the Saudi Arabian card topped by David Benevidez, Casamonica will begin as an underdog but if he is able to wrest the belt back to Italy it will provide a platform with the WBC, who reward the European Championship with a high ranking. Subriel Matias is the current custodian of the famous green and gold belt and the title has been thrown into doubt as Matias faces problems of his own. 

In many ways, the battle within the ring on Saturday is much easier than Casamonica’s quest to escape that shadows of his family’s notorious crime past.