Željko Mavrović (; ; born 17 February 1969) is a Croatian former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

who competed from 1993 to 1998. In 1998, as an undefeated challenger, he faced Lennox Lewis for the WBC heavyweight title, but lost in what would be his final fight. After retiring from boxing, Mavrović became an entrepreneur.

Early years

Mavrović was born in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...

, in the neighborhood Srednjaci (which is the source of his nickname ''Šaka sa Srednjaka'' or ''Fist from Srednjaci'').

Amateur career

As an amateur boxer, Mavrović was the Mediterranean champion in 1991 and Croatian champion in 1991 and 1992. He quickly progressed from the 75 to the 91 kg weight class.

Highlights

European Junior Championships (Middleweight),

Copenhagen, Denmark Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, September 1986: *1/8: Lost to Mario Nesemann (East Germany) by unanimous decision, 0–5 Balkan Junior Championships (Light heavyweight),

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, November 1987: *Finals: Defeated Petru Ohaci (Romania) Usti Grand Prix (Light heavyweight),

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, March 1988: *1/4: Lost to Daniel Stantien (Czechoslovakia) by majority decision, 1–4 USA–Europe Duals (Heavyweight),

Las Vegas Convention Center The Las Vegas Convention Center (commonly referred to as LVCC) is a convention center in Winchester, Nevada. It is owned and operated by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. As one of the largest convention centers in the world, it h ...

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 Vega ...

, June 1988: *Lost to

Ray Mercer Raymond Anthony Mercer (born April 4, 1961) is an American former professional boxer, kickboxer, and mixed martial artist who competed from 1989 to 2009. Best known for his boxing career, Mercer won a heavyweight gold medal at the 1988 Summer O ...

(United States) RSC 1 XXIV Summer Olympics (Heavyweight),

Seoul, South Korea Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 o ...

, September 1988: *1/8: Lost to Baik Hyun-Man (South Korea) by unanimous decision, 0–5 Trofeo Italia (Heavyweight),

Mestre Mestre () is a borough of the ''comune'' (municipality) of Venice, on the mainland opposite the historical island city in the region of Veneto, Italy. Administratively, Mestre forms (together with the nearby Carpenedo) the ''Municipalità di ...

, Venice, Italy, March 1989: *1/8: Defeated Hamayak Shabazian (Sweden) by unanimous decision, 5–0 *1/4: Defeated Salih Ozkaraaslan (Turkey) by unanimous decision, 5–0 *1/2: Defeated Bert Teuchert (West Germany) by unanimous decision, 5–0 *Finals: Lost to

Axel Schulz Axel Schulz (born 9 November 1968) is a German former professional boxer who competed from 1990 to 1999, and in 2006. He challenged three times for both the IBF and European heavyweight titles. As an amateur he won a bronze medal at the 198 ...

(East Germany) by majority decision, 1–4 Intercup (Heavyweight),

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

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 ...

, April 1989: *Finals: Lost to Peter Stettinger (West Germany) by majority decision, 1–4 European Championships (Heavyweight), Athens, Greece, May 1989: *1/8: Lost to

(East Germany) by split decision, 2–3

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

(Heavyweight),

Moscow, Soviet Union Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, September 1989: *1/8: Lost to Yevgeny Sudakov (Soviet Union) on points, 4–18 Goodwill Games (Heavyweight),

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

, July 1990: *1/4: Lost to Yevgeny Sudakov (Soviet Union) by split decision, 2–3 USA–Yugoslavia Duals (Heavyweight),

Rapid City, South Dakota Rapid City ( lkt, link=no, Mni Lúzahaŋ Otȟúŋwahe; "Swift Water City") is the second most populous city in South Dakota and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed, it is in western So ...

, January 1990: * Defeated John Bray (United States) by unanimous decision, 3–0 Trofeo Italia (Heavyweight),

, Venice, Italy, March 1990: *1/2: Defeated José Ortega (Spain) RSCI 3 *Finals: Defeated Marcelino Filho (Brazil) by unanimous decision, 5–0 Yugoslavia–USA Duals (Heavyweight),

Umag Umag (; it, Umago) is a coastal town in Istria, Croatia. Geography It is the westernmost town of Croatia, and it includes Bašanija, the westernmost point of Croatia. Population Umag has a population of 7,281, with a total municipal populatio ...

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

, July 1990: * Defeated James Johnson (United States) by unanimous decision, 3–0 Copenhagen Cup (Heavyweight),

, November 1990: *Finals: Defeated

Tom Glesby Thomas Glesby (born July 17, 1969) is a Canadian former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2001. As an amateur, he competed at the Summer Olympics: in 1988 and 1992. Nicknamed "The Bomb" he won the bronze medal in the men's heavyweight ...

(Canada) by unanimous decision, 5–0 European Championships (Heavyweight), Stockholm, Sweden, May 1991: *1/8: Defeated Vasile Adumitroaie (Romania) on points, 31–8 *1/4: Lost to Arnold Vanderlijde (Netherlands) on points, 17–20 Trofeo Italia (Heavyweight),

, Venice, Italy, March 1991: *1/4: Defeated Mikael Lindblad (Sweden) RET 1 *1/2: Defeated Vasile Adumitroaie (Romania) RET 3 *Finals: Defeated Peter Stettinger (Germany) by unanimous decision, 5–0 Box-Am Tournament (Heavyweight), Almeria, Spain, March 1991: *Finals: Defeated Freddy Rojas (Cuba) on points XI Mediterranean Games (Heavyweight), Athens, Greece, July 1991: *1/2: Defeated M. A. Ibrahim Mohamed (Egypt) *Finals: Defeated

Georgios Stefanopoulos Georgios Stefanopoulos (; born March 31, 1962 in Peristeri, Attiki) is a former boxer from Greece, who participated in two Summer Olympics for his native country in the men's heavyweight division (– 91 kg), starting in 1984 in Los Angel ...

(Greece) on points, 20–17 Chemistry Cup (Heavyweight), Halle, Germany, March 1992: *1/8: Defeated Peter Hart (Hungary) RET 2 *1/4: Defeated

Paul Douglas Paul Howard Douglas (March 26, 1892 – September 24, 1976) was an American politician and Georgist economist. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a U.S. Senator from Illinois for eighteen years, from 1949 to 1967. During his Senat ...

(Ireland) on points, 17–5 *1/2: Defeated Paul Lawson (England) by walkover *Finals: Lost to Bert Teuchert (Germany) on points, 7–8 XXV Summer Olympics (Heavyweight), Barcelona, Spain, July 1992: *1/16: Defeated Mark Hulstrøm (Denmark) on points, 8–2 *1/8: Lost to Danell Nicholson (United States) on points, 6–9 Mavrović had 140 fights as an amateur, compiling an amateur record of 124 wins, 16 losses.

Professional career

Upon turning professional, he won the EBU Champion of Europe title in 1995 and kept his title in 1996 and 1997 defending it seven times. In 1998, he went up against Lennox Lewis for the world heavyweight champion title, but lost after twelve rounds via unanimous decision 119–109, 117–112, and 117–111. Although he was outclassed by Lewis in the fight, his daring performance pulled appreciative comments from boxing insiders. Lewis' manager

Frank Maloney Kellie Maloney (born Francis Maloney, 23 January 1953) is an English boxing manager and promoter, and television personality. She managed Lennox Lewis between 1989 and 2001, who earned the title of undisputed heavyweight championship of the wo ...

said that "Mavrović must have 240lb of steel in his chin" after the fight. Lewis described the fight as the most awkward win of his career, citing sauna-like conditions in the ring, as well as Mavrović's agility, motivation and preparedness. Mavrović never fought again after this bout. In the next years, he was a few times scheduled against quality opposition (like for example against

Hasim Rahman Hasim Sharif Rahman (born November 7, 1972) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2014. He is a two-time world heavyweight champion, having held the unified WBC, IBF, IBO and lineal titles in 2001; and the WBC t ...

in 1999 where his late replacement

Oleg Maskaev Oleg Alexandrovich Maskayev (russian: Олег Александрович Маскаев; also Maskaev; born 2 March 1969) is a Russian-American former professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2013, and held the WBC heavyweight title from 2 ...

then knocked Rahman out of the ring in a well-remembered fight), but he always had to pull out due to injuries and he ultimately had to finish his career due to an undisclosed illness. In December 2012 Mavrović announced his return to professional boxing. A match with Serbian Cruiserweight boxer Enad Ličina was scheduled for April 2013, but after breaking a rib during training just a few weeks before the scheduled match his return was first delayed and then canceled. Mavrović served as a boxing director for the Croatian Boxing Federation during the ''2014 European Youth Boxing Championships'' in

. He was quoted after the incident where Croatian boxer Vido Loncar assaulted and seriously injured a referee after a loss, excusing Loncar with the argument "I believe that he is not a butcher or as bad as this act makes him look. This was part of his excessive ambition in that moment". Loncar was subsequently banned from boxing for life.

Honors

His Golden Glove remains the biggest trophy in the history of Croatian heavyweight boxing, and he was named the Croatian sportsperson of the year twice. He was also distinctive for his Mohawk hairstyle, which led to a later nickname ''Irokez'' (Croatian for

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

Professional boxing record

, - , align="center" colspan=8, 27 Wins (22 knockouts, 5 decisions), 1 Loss (0 knockouts, 1 decisio

, - , align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Result , align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Record , align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Opponent , align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Type , align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Round , align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Date , align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Location , align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Notes , - , Loss , , align=left, Lennox Lewis , UD , 12 , Lennox Lewis vs. Željko Mavrović, 26 Sep 1998 , align=left, Mohegan Sun Arena,

Montville, Connecticut Montville is a town in New London County, Connecticut in the United States. The population was 18,387 at the 2020 census. The villages of Chesterfield, Mohegan, Oakdale, and Uncasville are located within the town; the latter two have their own ...

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, England , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Julius Francis , TKO , 8 (12) , 15 Feb 1997 , align=left, Kurhalle Oberlaa,

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, Austria , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Clifton Mitchell , TKO , 2 , 2 Nov 1996 , align=left, Olympia Eisstadion, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Mark Anthony Wills , RTD , 8 (10) , 22 Jun 1996 , align=left,

Westfalenstadion Westfalenstadion (, ) is a football stadium in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, which is the home of Borussia Dortmund. Officially called Signal Iduna Park for sponsorship reasons and BVB Stadion Dortmund in UEFA competitions, the n ...

, Dortmund, Germany , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Christophe Bizot , UD , 12 , 20 Apr 1996 , align=left, Düsseldorf, Germany , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Przemyslaw Saleta , KO , 1 (12), , 9 Dec 1995 , align=left,

Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle (sometimes shortened to Schleyer-Halle) is an indoor arena located in Stuttgart, Germany. The capacity of the arena is nearly 15,000 people. The venue was built in 1983 and is named for Hanns Martin Schleyer, a German fo ...

, Stuttgart, Germany , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Michael Murray , KO , 4 (8) , 14 Oct 1995 , align=left,

Olympiahalle Olympiahalle is a multi-purpose arena located in Am Riesenfeld in Munich, Germany, part of Olympiapark. The arena is used for concerts, sporting events, exhibitions or trade fairs. The seating capacity for the arena varies from 12,150 up to 14,0 ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, Germany , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Ken Smith , KO , 2 (10), , 17 Jun 1995 , align=left, Aladdin Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Christophe Bizot , TKO , 11 , 11 Apr 1995 , align=left, Palais des sports Marcel-Cerdan,

Levallois-Perret Levallois-Perret () is a commune in the Hauts-de-Seine department and Île-de-France region of north-central France. It lies some from the centre of Paris in the north-western suburbs of the French capital. It is the most densely populated ...

, France , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Mark Young , , 5 (8), , 25 Mar 1995 , align=left,

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...

, Germany , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left,

Nathaniel Fitch Nathaniel Fitch Sr. (born October 31, 1956) is an American former heavyweight boxer best known for his stellar amateur boxing career. Early years "Years ago I was at a Boys Club and some guys took my bike and my brothers went to retrieve it and ...

, KO , 1 , 11 Feb 1995 , align=left,

Festhalle A Festhalle is a German arena or community center. The root meaning of the name "Fest-halle" literally means "Feast-Hall," but is best translated as "Festival Hall" or "Civic Center." Festhalles can be found in many towns and cities in Germany, and ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

, Germany , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Oleg Savenko , KO , 3 , 26 Nov 1994 , align=left,

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; "''Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and tow ...

, Germany , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Marion Wilson , PTS , 8 , 8 Oct 1994 , align=left,

Gerry Weber Stadium OWL Arena is a multi-purpose indoor sports arena, located in Halle, North Rhine-Westphalia, in Germany. The capacity of the arena is 12,300 people and it opened in 1993. It hosts the Halle Open every year in June. It is one of the few grass cour ...

, Halle, Germany , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Jerry Jones , PTS , 10 , 17 Sep 1994 , align=left, Wilhelm-Dopatka-Halle,

Leverkusen Leverkusen () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, on the eastern bank of the Rhine. To the south, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne, and to the north the state capital, Düsseldorf. With about 161,000 inhabitants, Leverkusen is o ...

, Germany , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, James Pritchard , , 10 , 18 Jun 1994 , align=left, Bismark Hotel,

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, United States , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Marshall Tillman , TKO , 1 , 4 Jun 1994 , align=left, Westfalenhallen, Dortmund, Germany , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Jimmy Bills , KO , 1 , 7 May 1994 , align=left, Oberwerth Halle, Koblenz, Germany , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Mike Dixon , TKO , 4 (?), , 26 Mar 1994 , align=left,

Westfalenhallen Westfalenhallen (English: Halls of Westphalia) is a commercial complex composed of conference (Kongresszentrum Dortmund) and exhibition centers (Messe Dortmund) with an indoor arena (Westfalenhalle), located in Dortmund, Germany. It is surroun ...

, Dortmund, Germany , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Will Hinton , TKO , 4 (6), , 5 Feb 1994 , align=left, Aladdin Hotel & Casino,

, United States , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Kimmuel Odum , , 8 , 11 Dec 1993 , align=left, Philips Halle, Düsseldorf, Germany , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left,

David Bey David Bey (March 11, 1957 – September 13, 2017) was a heavyweight boxer who held the USBA title. He unsuccessfully challenged Larry Holmes for the heavyweight title in 1985. Bey was an outstanding amateur boxer who had taken up the sport to ...

, TKO , 4 , 16 Oct 1993 , align=left, Koblenz, Germany , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Marco van Spaendonck , TKO , 1 (?), , 18 Sep 1993 , align=left, Philips Halle, Düsseldorf, Germany , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Webster Vinson , KO , 2 , 7 Aug 1993 , align=left, Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S. , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, John Morton , , 3 , 26 Jun 1993 , align=left, Alsterdorfer Sporthalle,

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, Germany , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Chris Harbourne , TKO , 1 , 1 May 1993 , align=left, Sporthalle Charlottenburg,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, Germany , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Bruno Podgorny , , 3 , 20 Mar 1993 , align=left, Philips Halle,

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Retirement and later years

After retirement, he went into agricultural business. He opened "Eko-centar Mavrović" in Sloboština near Požega where he produces his line of

eco-friendly Environment friendly processes, or environmental-friendly processes (also referred to as eco-friendly, nature-friendly, and green), are sustainability and marketing terms referring to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies that clai ...

food.Eko-Mavrović homepage
/ref> After initial success his business fell into financial problems in the early 2010s.

References

External links

*
Nedjeljom u dva – Željko Mavrović (07.04.2013)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mavrovic, Zeljko Living people 1969 births Croatian male boxers Boxers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Boxers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers of Croatia Sportspeople from Zagreb European Boxing Union champions Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Croatia Competitors at the 1991 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in boxing Heavyweight boxers Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games