Giovanni Parisi (2 December 1967 – 25 March 2009) was an Italian

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 ...

, who won the gold medal in the Men's Featherweight (57 kg) category at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

Seoul 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 of ...

1988 Olympic results

Below is the record of Giovanni Parisi, an Italian featherweight boxer who competed at the 1988 Seoul Olympics: * Round of 64: bye * Round of 32: defeated Lu Chih Hsiung (Taipei) by decision, 5-0 * Round of 16: defeated Mikhail Kazaryan (Soviet Union) referee stopped contest in the second round * Quarterfinal: defeated Ya'acov Shmuel (Israel) by decision, 5-0 * Semifinal: defeated Abdelhak Achik (Morocco) referee stopped contest in the first round * Final: defeated Daniel Dumitrescu (Romania) by first-round knockout (won gold medal)

Professional career

A native of

Vibo Valentia Vibo Valentia (; Monteleone before 1861; Monteleone di Calabria from 1861 to 1928; scn, label= Calabrian, Vibbu Valenzia or ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Calabria region of southern Italy, near the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the ca ...

, Calabria, Parisi began his professional career in 1989 and won the Vacant WBO Lightweight Title by defeating Javier Altamirano in 1992. He later defeated former champion

Freddie Pendleton Freddie Pendleton (born January 5, 1963) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1981 to 2001. Pendleton won his first title in October 1985 knocking out Darryl Martin (9-2) in the 6th round earning him the Pennsylvania State ...

and in 1995 challenged Mexican legend Julio César Chávez for the WBC Light Welterweight Title, losing a unanimous decision. Parisi went on to capture the WBO Light Welterweight Title and defend it successfully six times. He lost the WBO light-welterweight belt to Carlos Gonzalez in May 1998, and failed in a challenge for the welterweight title against Daniel Santos in July 2000. He last fought in September 2006, when he lost a majority decision against Frederic Klose in Milan for the European welterweight crown.

Death

On 25 March 2009, Parisi was driving a car at

Voghera The Castle of Voghera in a 19th-century etching. Voghera ( Vogherese dialect of Emilian: ''Vughera''; Latin: ''Forum Iulii Iriensium'') is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Pavia in the Italian region Lombardy. The population was 39,374 ...

, near

Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the cap ...

, when it crashed head-on with a truck. Parisi died at the scene; he was 41.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Parisi, Giovanni 1967 births 2009 deaths Boxers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Featherweight boxers Olympic boxers for Italy Olympic gold medalists for Italy People from Vibo Valentia Road incident deaths in Italy Olympic medalists in boxing Italian male boxers Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from the Province of Vibo Valentia 20th-century Italian people