Mate Parlov
| Mate Parlov | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Parlov in 1972
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| Real name | Mate Parlov | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rated at | light heavyweight, cruiserweight | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Croat | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
16 November 1948 Split, SFR Yugoslavia |
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| Died | 29 July 2008 (aged 59) Pula, Croatia |
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| Stance | Southpaw | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Boxing record | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total fights | 29 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wins | 24 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wins by KO | 12 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Losses | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Draws | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No contests | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Mate Parlov (16 November 1948 – 29 July 2008) was a Yugoslav boxer of Croatian origin, and Olympic gold medalist who was European and World Champion as amateur and as professional. Parlov is the greatest Croatian boxer of all time, and the Croatian sportsman of the 20th century.
Mate Parlov was born in Split, the older of two brothers in a Croatian family originally from the village of Ričice near the town of Imotski. In 1958, the family moved to Pula.
In his amateur career he participated in 310 matches and lost 13. He was eight-time champion of Yugoslavia in the light heavyweight category (1967–1974), five-time champion of the Balkans (1970–1974), two-time champion of Europe (1971 in Madrid, and 1973 in Belgrade), and world champion at the inaugural 1974 World Championships in Havana, Cuba. He won the Golden Glove award twice, in 1967 and 1969. He participated in the Munich 1972 Summer Olympics, winning the gold medal in the light heavyweight division.
Parlov won twelve of his first thirteen fights as a professional boxer before successfully challenging for the European light-heavyweight title. In 1976, he faced the future world champion Matthew Saad Muhammad. In their first fight in Milan, scheduled for eight rounds, he was defeated following the referee's decision. In a rematch, he and Muhammad struggled to a ten-round draw. After successfully defending the European title three times, he met Miguel Angel Cuello in Milan for the WBC world light-heavyweight title in January 1978. The two men had been scheduled to meet in the quarter-finals at the Munich Olympics, but Cuello withdrew due to an injury. Parlov knocked out Cuello in the ninth round to become the first professional world champion from a communist country. Parlov lost the title on his second defense and would later challenge for the World cruiser-weight title without success.
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