As a youngster Manuela Zanon didn't have to worry about anybody giving her a problem when she was playing basketball.

"When I was young and we would play and when my father was there, nobody could say anything because everyone knew who he was," said the Italian power forward at the EuroBasket Women 2009.

The reason Zanon and her friends had that certain swagger was because Zanon's father was Lorenzo Zanon - the former European boxing heavyweight champion who also fought for the WBC title.

Manuela Zanon was about three weeks old when her father was knocked out by Larry Holmes in the sixth round for the WBC heavyweight belt on February 3, 1980 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

Zanon's father finished his career with a 27-6-3 career record, but he rarely talks about his fighting career, according to the 29-year-old Manuela.

The Cantu native said that as a young child she took boxing lessons.

She even admitted: "Maybe if I was a man, I would be a boxer."

The San Giovanni power forward has not played a major role for Giampiero Ticchi's team, collecting just three points, nine rebounds and two assists in an average of 7.5 minutes over four games.

In the EuroBasket Women qualifiers, Zanon averaged 6.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 12 games, three times scoring 12 or more points and three times grabbing seven or more rebounds while hitting 8 of 12 three-pointers.

Zanon, who also played for Italy at EuroBasket Women 2007, made the switch at 11 years old to basketball - the sport her mother played - because she "liked playing a team sport more than an individual sport".

Not only did Zanon's mother play basketball but also her sisters - though none professionally.

Zanon, who has played in the EuroCup with two different clubs, said her mother taught her the value of relationships and staying together and talking to others in the sport.

When asked about what she learned from her champion father, she said: "He gave me the fighting attitude and trying to win every time and everywhere."

And even though Zanon may not have a major role in Latvia, it's her fighting spirit off the bench which has helped Italy overachieve in Valmiera and Riga and remain alive for the quarter-finals.