Mate Parlov (16 November 1948 – 29 July 2008) was a Croatian-

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

and

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

gold medalist who was European and World Champion as an amateur and as a professional.

Background

Mate Parlov was born in

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enterta ...

, the youngest of four children in a Croatian family originally from

Imotski Imotski (; it, Imoschi; lat, Emotha, later ''Imota'') is a small town on the northern side of the Biokovo massif in the Dalmatian Hinterland of southern Croatia, near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Imotski, like the surrounding inland D ...

. In 1958, the family moved to

Pula Pula (; also known as Pola, it, Pola , hu, Pòla, Venetian language, Venetian; ''Pola''; Istriot language, Istriot: ''Puola'', Slovene language, Slovene: ''Pulj'') is the largest city in Istria County, Croatia, and the List of cities and town ...

Amateur

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 Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. 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.Mate Parlov
sports-reference.com

Professional career

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 Matthew Saad Muhammad (born Maxwell Antonio Loach; June 16, 1954 – May 25, 2014) was an American professional boxer who was the WBC Light Heavyweight Champion of the World for two-and-a-half years. Background Saad Muhammad's mother died when ...

. 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.

Retirement

In retirement, Parlov ran a coffee bar in Pula. He returned to boxing as coach of the Yugoslavian Olympic team prior to the 1984 Olympics, when Yugoslav boxers achieved their best results ever: one gold, one silver and two bronzes. He later moved to

Fažana Fažana (; Italian: ''Fasana,'' ) is a village and a municipality on the western coast of Istria, in Croatia. Yugoslavia's former President, Josip Broz Tito, was fond of Fažana and the Brijuni Islands The Brijuni () or the Brijuni Islands ( ...

near

, away from boxing and the public. In March 2008, he was diagnosed with

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

, and died four months later.

Private life

Mate Parlov was married to Laura Parlov with whom he had two children, daughter Mira and son Matko. He was an economist by profession, and had one graduate exam left before gaining the title of

Master of Economics The Master of Economics (MEcon or MEc) is a postgraduate master's degree in economics comprising training in economic theory, econometrics, and/or applied economics. The degree is also offered as an MS or MSc, MA or MCom in economics; varian ...

Kip Mate Parlova u Fažani, rad Ante Jurkića

Honors and awards

Golden Gloves The Golden Gloves is the name given to annual competitions for amateur boxing in the United States, where they are awarded a belt and a ring. And the title of nations champion is awarded. The Golden Gloves is a term used to refer to the Nation ...

: 1967, 1969 * Croatian Sportsman of the Year: 1971, 1972, 1973 * Yugoslavian Sportsman of the Year: 1971, 1972, 1974 * Balkan Sportsman of the Year: 1974 *

Golden Badge ''Sport'' ( sr-Cyrl, Спорт) was a Serbian daily sports newspaper. The first edition was published on 5 May 1945 under the name ''Fiskultura'' and the last edition went out on 17 September 2016. Since the mid-2000s it was billed as "Dnevni s ...

award for best athlete of

: 1972, 1974 * Istrian Sportsman of the 20th century * Croatian Sportsman of the 20th century * Lifetime Honorary President of

Croatian Boxing Federation The Croatian Boxing Federation ( hr, Hrvatski boksački savez) is the governing body of amateur boxing in Croatia. It was established in 1921. It is a member organization of the Croatian Olympic Committee The Croatian Olympic Committee ( hr, ...

* WBC Honorary Champion: 2006 * Croatian Walk of Fame: 2008 *

Mate Parlov Sport Centre The Mate Parlov Sport Centre is a multi-purpose indoor sports arena located in Pula, Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovin ...

, a multi-functional hall in

named after him since 2008 * In 2013 he was posthumously assigned the Order of Duke Branimir with necklace by the President of the Republic of Croatia *

Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport ( hr, Državna nagrada za šport "Franjo Bučar") is the highest recognition that Republic of Croatia gives for extraordinary achievements and contributions of remarkable meaning for the development of sport in Cr ...

- Award for Life Achievement: 2018 * A statue in his honour was unveiled in Fažana in 2018 * A newly discovered species of underground spider was named Harpactea mateparlovi in 2020 * A statue in his honour was unveiled in Pula in 2021

Amateur highlights

* Record: 310–13 * Eight-time champion of Yugoslavia * Five-time champion of the Balkans at the 1969 European Championships: Bucharest, Romania (Middleweight): * Defeated

Ewald Jarmer Ewald Jarmer (born 12 August 1942) is a German boxer. He competed in the men's middleweight event at the 1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 197 ...

(West Germany) by decision * Defeated

Janusz Gortat Janusz Kazimierz Gortat (born November 5, 1948) is a retired boxer from Poland, who represented his native country at two consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1972. In both tournaments he won the bronze medal in the light heavywei ...

(Poland) by decision * Defeated Reima Virtanen (Finland) by decision * Lost to

Vladimir Tarasenko Vladimir Andreyevich Tarasenko (russian: Влади́мир Андре́евич Тарасе́нко; born 13 December 1991) is a Russian professional ice hockey right winger and alternate captain for the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey ...

(Soviet Union) by decision Represented Yugoslavia at the 1968

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

in Mexico City, Mexico (Middleweight): * Defeated Lahcen Ahidous (Morocco) by decision * Defeated Jan van Ispelen (Netherlands) by decision * Lost to

Chris Finnegan Chris Finnegan MBE (5 June 1944 – 2 March 2009) was a British professional boxer of Irish descent born in Iver, Buckinghamshire, England.Anthony Roberts Anthony John Roberts (born 19 April 1970) is an Australian politician. He is the New South Wales Minister for Planning and the Minister for Homes in the Perrottet ministry since December 2021. Roberts is a member of the New South Wales Legisl ...

(Wales) by decision * Defeated Vladimir Metelev (Soviet Union) RSC 2 * Defeated

(Poland) by decision * Defeated Horst Stump (Romania) by decision * Defeated Ottomar Sachse (East Germany) by decision at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany (Light Heavyweight): *Defeated Noureddine Aman Hassan (Chad) KO 2 *Defeated Imre Toth (Hungary) KO 2 *Defeated Miguel Angel Cuello (Argentina) by walkover *Defeated

(Poland) by decision *Defeated Gilberto Carrillo (Cuba) RSC 2 at the 1973 European Championships: Belgrade, Yugoslavia (Light Heavyweight): * Defeated Michael Imrie (Scotland) RSC 1 * Defeated William Knight (England) RSC 3 * Defeated Oleg Karatayev (Soviet Union) RSC 2 * Defeated

(Poland) by decision at the 1974 World Championships, Havanna, Cuba (Light Heavyweight): * Defeated Constantin Dafinoiu (Romania) by decision * Defeated Gilberto Carrillo (Cuba) by decision * Defeated Ottomar Sachse (East Germany) by decision * Defeated Oleg Karatayev (Soviet Union) RSC 2

Professional boxing record

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Marvin Camel Marvin Camel (born December 24, 1951) is a retired boxer and member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation in Northwestern Montana. He was born in Ronan and fought out of Missoula Missoula ( ; f ...

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Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

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Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

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Marsala Marsala (, local ; la, Lilybaeum) is an Italian town located in the Province of Trapani in the westernmost part of Sicily. Marsala is the most populated town in its province and the fifth in Sicily. The town is famous for the docking of Gius ...

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John Conteh John Anthony Conteh, (born 27 May 1951) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1971 to 1980. He held the WBC light-heavyweight title from 1974 to 1978, and regionally the European, British and Commonwealth titles between 1 ...

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Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

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, align=left, , - align=center , Win , , align=left, Johnny Griffin , TKO , 5 , 6 October 1975 , align=left,

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Liguria Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...

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Opatija Opatija (; it, Abbazia; german: Sankt Jakobi) is a town and a municipality in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia. The traditional seaside resort on the Kvarner Gulf is known for its Mediterranean climate and its historic buildings r ...

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References

External links

*
Olympiad Medal Results for 1972: Boxing 75-81kg (light-heavyweight) Men
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parlov, Mate 1948 births 2008 deaths Sportspeople from Split, Croatia Yugoslav male boxers Light-heavyweight boxers Olympic boxers of Yugoslavia Olympic gold medalists for Yugoslavia Boxers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Boxers at the 1972 Summer Olympics World boxing champions Olympic medalists in boxing Deaths from lung cancer in Croatia Croatian male boxers European champions for Yugoslavia AIBA World Boxing Championships medalists Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics