Mate Parlov

Croatian boxer

Mate Parlov (16 November 1948 – 29 July 2008) was a Croatian Yugoslavian boxer and Olympic gold medalist who was European and World Champion as an amateur and as a professional. Parlov was voted the Best Balkan Athlete of the Year for 1974.

Mate Parlov was born in Split, the youngest of four children in a Croatian family originally from 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.

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,

No. (Number)ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes29Loss24–3–2Marvin CamelUD1531 March 198028Draw24–2–2Marvin CamelPTS158 December 197927Win24–2–1Tony MundinePTS1226 September 197926Win23–2–1Joe MayeKO528 July 197925Loss22–2–1Marvin JohnsonTKO102 December 197824Win22–1–1John ContehSD (Split decision) 1517 June 197823Win21–1–1Tony GreeneTKO628 April 197822Win20–1–1Miguel Ángel CuelloKO97 January 197821Win19–1–1Leo KakolewiczTKO621 August 197720Win18–1–1Harald SkogUD (Unanimous decision)159 July 197719Win17–1–1Francois FiolPTS155 April 197718Win16–1–1Christian PonceletPTS105 March 197717Draw15–1–1Matthew Saad MuhammadPTS (Points draw)103 December 197616Win15–1Aldo TraversaroPTS1515 October 197615Win14–1Al BoldenKO911 September 197614Win13–1Domenico AdinolfiTKO1110 July 197613Loss12–1Matthew Saad MuhammadPTS821 May 197612Win12–0Maile HaumonaPTS1020 March 197611Win11–0Sentiki QataPTS106 March 197610Win10–0Macka FoleyTKO26 February 19769Win9–0Onelio GrandoPTS826 December 19758Win8–0Billy FreemanPTS1022 November 19757Win7–0Karl ZurheideKO130 October 19756Win6–0Johnny GriffinTKO56 October 19755Win5–0Jose Evaristo GomezPTS813 September 19754Win4–0Jose Galvez VasquezPTS (Points decision) 822 August 19753Win3–0Horst LangKO112 July 19752Win2–0Robert AmoryTKO (Technical knockout) 520 June 19751Win1–0Dante LazzariKO (Knockout)131 May 1975