Patrizio Oliva (born 28 January 1959) is an Italian 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 won the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have be ...

in the

light welterweight Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional boxing In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, ...

division at the

1980 Moscow Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

as an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, self-taught, user-generated, DIY, and hobbyist. History ...

and the WBA

title as a professional.

Early life

Patrizio is one of seven brothers born to Rocco and Catena Oliva. Oliva was introduced to boxing through his father Rocco and his brother Mario's passion for the sport. One of his brothers, Ciro, died and Oliva dedicated a number of his fights to the memory of Ciro and also named his first son after him.

Amateur career

Oliva had a successful amateur career and won 93 of his 96 fights winning the Italian, European and Olympic titles. At international level Oliva won the 1978 European Junior Championships in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

, Ireland and silver medal at the 1979 European Senior Championships in

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. Oliva was beaten by Russian boxer

Serik Konakbayev Serik Kerimbekuly Konakbaev ( kk, Серік Керімбекұлы Қонақбаев, ''Serık Kerımbekūly Qonaqbaev''; russian: Серик Керимбекович Конакбаев; born October 25, 1959 in Pavlodar, Kazakh ...

in the final of the Cologne championship and stated that his fight against Konakbaev was the hardest of his career. The following year he represented his country and boxed at the

Olympic Games 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 multi ...

for Italy and would again face Konakbaev.

1980 Olympics

Following two years of winning European title Oliva competed in the blue vest of Italy at the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

, which were held in Moscow,

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nati ...

. Oliva competed in the Light Welterweight (– 63.5 kg) division. He defeated Beninese Aurelien Agnan in his first contest after referee stopped contest in first round. In his second contest he stopped

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

n Farez Halabi in the third round and beat Yugoslavian

Ace Rusevski Ace Rusevski (born November 30, 1956 in Kumanovo) is a retired Macedonian boxer, who represented Yugoslavia at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. There he won the bronze medal in the lightweight division (– 60 kg) ...

in the quarter final. In the semi final Oliva faced British boxer

Tony Willis Anthony "Tony" Willis (born 17 June 1960 in Liverpool, England) is a Former British boxing champion winning the Lonsdale Belt out right and won a Light Welterweight Bronze medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics. As a professional, he held the Br ...

. This fight went the full three round distance and Oliva was once again victorious after all five judges gave him the decision. On 2 August 1980, Oliva once again met his opponent from the final of the 1979 European championships, Serik Konakbaev, in the final of the Olympics. This time Oliva reversed the result by beating Konakbaev in front of his home crowd to take the gold medal and win the

Val Barker Trophy The Val Barker Trophy is presented every four years to the most "outstanding boxer" at the Olympic Games. In theory, the award goes to the top "pound for pound" boxer in the Olympics. The winner is selected by a committee of International Boxing ...

for being ''"Outstanding Boxer"'' at the 1980 Olympics.Boxing at the 1980 Moskva Summer Games: Men's Light-Welterweight
sports-reference.com

Olympic results

*Defeated Aurelien Agnan (Benin) RSC-1 *Defeated Farez Halabi (Syria) RSC-3 *Defeated

(Yugoslavia) 3–2 *Defeated

(Great Britain) 5–0 *Defeated

(Soviet Union) 4–1

Professional career

Debut

Within two months of winning gold at the Moscow Olympics, Oliva turned professional. His first fight was on 11 October 1980 against Italian based

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian Nelson Gomes in Naples, Italy. Oliva defeated Gomes on points over six rounds to secure his first victory as a professional.

Early fights

After Oliva's first win in the professional ranks, he then went on a run of victories. From October 1980 to August 1981, Oliva won thirteen straight fights before he fought for his first title belt, the Italian light welterweight title against Giuseppe Russi on 4 November 1981 in

Ischia Ischia ( , , ) is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It lies at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples, about from Naples. It is the largest of the Phlegrean Islands. Roughly trapezoidal in shape, it measures approximately east to ...

. Oliva handled Russi with ease winning the title with a second round

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving strikin ...

. Oliva followed his first title win by winning a further eleven straight fight between November 1981 and October 1982.

European title

This left Oliva with a record of 25 victories with no losses and earned him a fight against

Frenchman The French people (french: Français) are an ethnic group and nation primarily located in Western Europe that share a common French culture, history, and language, identified with the country of France. The French people, especially th ...

Robert Gambini for a chance to win for his first

major title is a golf sports video game that was released by Irem to Arcade game, arcades in 1990. A version of the game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as well as an arcade sequel, ''Major Title 2: Tournament Leader'', were released in 1992. The ...

, the European

title. Oliva was again victorious and took the title from Gambini on points over twelve rounds. Gambini retired from boxing after the fight. Oliva continued his run of career victories by winning his first 48 fights, including a victory over Ubaldo Nestor Sacco in 1986 to capture the WBA light welterweight title. Oliva defended the title four times prior to losing to

Juan Martin Coggi Juan Martin Coggi (born 19 December 1961) is a former boxer from Argentina. A native of Santa Fe Province (he lived as a child until a few years Brandsen, Buenos Aires Province), which was also the birthplace of Carlos Monzón, Coggi was a thr ...

by KO in 1987. After a two-year rest, Oliva came back and went on to win his next 9 fights, setting up a shot at WBC

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

title holder

James McGirt James Walter "Buddy" McGirt (born January 17, 1964) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1982 to 1997, and has since worked as a boxing trainer. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the IBF junior we ...

in 1992. Oliva lost via unanimous decision, and retired after the bout with a record of 57–2–0.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oliva, Patrizio 1959 births Living people Italian male boxers Light-welterweight boxers Boxers at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers of Italy Olympic gold medalists for Italy Olympic medalists in boxing Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics World Boxing Association champions Boxers from Naples Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Italy Mediterranean Games medalists in boxing Competitors at the 1979 Mediterranean Games 20th-century Italian people