Croatians seem to have great talent when it comes to sports, but some of them genuinely will stay in our memories and stories forever, thanks to their hard work and kind heart. One of those people was a Croatian professional boxer, Mate Parlov.
The first boxer from a socialist country at that time to win the professional world title and also the only boxer in the history of that sport that earned the title of Olympic, European, World amateur, and World professional titles. Not to mention that he was proclaimed the best Croatian athlete of the 20th century during his lifetime. Gold medals were nothing strange to Parlov, who collected them in both amateur and professional fights. But although what seemed like a dangerous and unapproachable facade, he was actually a really simple and peaceful man, just like he was brought up while growing up in Dalmatia. A famous story says that Yugoslavian National Television didn’t have the funds to pay for the transmission of his fight, and he paid his own money to the Television for the broadcast.
Mate Parlov was also a huge fan of poetry and often could be found before his fights relaxing while reading some of the prominent Croatian poets. He confessed that this part of him was influenced by his brother, who was a literature professor.
After he ended his professional career, he coached younger generations of boxers Mate Parlov was also a huge fan of poetry and often could be found before his fights relaxing while reading some of the prominent Croatian poets. He confessed that this part of him was Mate Parlov was also a huge fan of poetry and often could be found before his fights relaxing while reading some of the prominent Croatian poets. He confessed that this part of him led them to several medals (1 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze) at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. He wanted a quiet retirement, so he moved to Fažana, a small place near Pula, and opened a cafe bar, “Mate” and lived a quiet life until his death in 2008.
