Light-Heavyweight (≤81 kilograms), Men

After losing in the final of the 1969 European Championships, Yugoslavia’s Mate Parlovwon the next four major tournaments he could enter. His Olympic title in 1972 was sandwiched by a brace of European championships in 1971 and 1973 and followed by a win at the inaugural world amateur Championships in 1974. Parlov was dominant in Munich and comfortably defeated opponents from Chad, Hungary and Poland on his way to fight for the gold medal. Facing Parlov in the final was the 19-year-old Cuban soldier Gilberto Carrillo. The inexperienced Carillo stated well and had the better of the opening exchanges but he failed to recover from a knockdown late in round one and was stopped in the final minute of the second run. Unlike other Communist regimes, Yugoslavia allowed its’ boxers to fight professionally and so Parlov took up this option in 1975. He won the European light-heavyweight title in 1976 and was World champion for most of 1978. He lost the title to fellow Olympian Marvin Johnson, then retired in 1980 following two failures to win another world title in the cruiserweight division. After retiring from the ring he ran a coffee bar but would return to boxing as a coach of the 1984 Yugoslav Olympic boxing team. A very popular figure in his native Croatia, he was voted the outstanding Croatian sportsman of the 20th century.