Belgrade to name street after Mate Parlov, best Yugoslav boxer ever

The decision was brought while Belgrade hosted the World Boxing Championship.

"It is important to preserve the memory of great athletes and people by naming the streets after them. Boxing is one of the sports that brought a large number of medals, and above all, a large number of great people, who represented it in the best possible way," the president of the Commission, Andrea Radulovic said.

Born in Split in 1948, Parlov lived in Fazana, Istria, after finishing his sports career, and ran his cafe in the Istrian town of Pula, surrounded by friends and admirers far from public life.

He mainly served his guests himself.

Parlov was a boxer who would be remembered for saying that "amateur boxing is far heavier than professional" apart from numerous domestic and international titles.

As a respectable public figure, he showed his cosmopolitanism by opposing nationalism in the former Yugoslavia and said in an interview that he "cannot be a nationalist, because he is a world champion."

Parlov had a total of 310 matches in his amateur career and suffered only 13 defeats. He won the title of champion of Yugoslavia in the light heavyweight category eight times (1967-1974).

He was five times Balkan champion (1971-1974), twice champion of Europe (1971 in Madrid and 1973 in Belgrade) and won two Golden Gloves - 1967 and 1969.

Parlov won the title of world amateur champion by winning the first World Championship, held in 1974 in Havana, Cuba. He participated in the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972 and won a gold medal in the light heavyweight category.

He began his professional career in the light heavyweight category in 1974 and won the European title in the WBC category in 1976. Parlov also won the world title in the light heavyweight category in 1978. As a professional, he had 29 fights, of which 24 wins and two draws, losing only three times.

Croatia declared Parlov its athlete of the 20th century and named the sports hall in Pula after him.

He passed away on July 29, 2008, at the age of 59.