27 years ago today: Željko "Iroquois/Šaka sa Srednjaka" Mavrović vs. Vincenzo "Maestro" Cantatore

This content is protected

I'd bet for many fans (aside from hardcore devotees from the last millennium, who specifically followed the late nineties Euro scene), this is the second fight of Mavrović's and first of Cantatore's they'll have gotten a glimpse of in their lives. The biggest claim to fame between them by far is the Mohawk-touting, hard-hitting and tough-as-nails Croatian's bid to dethrone Lennox Claudius Lewis eleven months later. Both were solid pugilists (if not correctly matched in size; more on that in a moment) and here produced a fun little firefight worth keeping alive in memory for posterity.

This was the sixth and final defense of Mavrović's somewhat middling reign as EBU heavyweight champion. He already had eyes on grander ambitions than a European championship and planned to vacate it to challenge Lewis for the green belt (in October of '97, while already the WBC titlist, Lewis wasn't yet lineal champ as it was five months later that he fought Briggs) - something the Austrian commentator alludes to while calling the action here.

Cantatore was coming off a short run as national heavyweight champion of Italy - something he accomplished in his second try against Francesco Spinelli. He was stopped by the 6′ 6½″ future Vitali Klitschko victim (blitzed in under two minutes!) and Milanese southpaw in five rounds in 1995, then stopped him in eleven in their rematch the following year. A few months later Cantatore was injured and graciously surrendered the belt so as to not jam it up.

Both men showed their best traits over their few shared rounds. The small Barese gladiator flung himself at Big Zed from Zagreb, doing whatever he could - rolling his neck, jabbing, and feinting - to get inside past the full extension of those long and deadly straight rights. Mavrović was a patiently stalking and precisely striking predator. His ultimate destruction of Cantatore in the 4th has an inevitable feel to it, but the struggle is fascinating to watch as it plays out.

With this hurdle cleared Mavrović would secure his dream assignment, sitting on the shelf for 343 days biding his time preparing for his attempt to be the one who could tame boxing's great Lion. As we know, his efforts although laudable would ultimately prove unsuccessful and he would promptly disappear to become a mere footnote and curiosity in the sport's history. Many have given him credit for the difficulty he gave Lewis, and some occasionally dredge up his name for hypothetical fantasy match forum threads - and his being the first practicing vegetarian to contend for HW gold is a quaint trivia nugget that even casuals and non-fans like to bandy about to show off now and then - but he's largely never thought or spoken of besides the context of that one final bout of his career.

Mavrović was scheduled for a few comebacks over the next 15 years or so, but none came to fruition. It was actually supposed to be him facing Hasim Rahman the night Oleg Maskaev knocked him between the ropes. He also was contemplating a return as late as 2013 against Enad Ličina, but a rib injury during training camp was a sign from the gods, as it were. He stayed involved with boxing and became the director of the Hrvatski Boksački Savez (overseeing boxing for the Croatian Olympic Committee) but spent a number of years making his figurative bread making ...well, literal bread. That is among other healthy organic vegan foods, but with a particular emphasis on bread. I believe he credits his dietary regimen to his recovered health - as part of what ended his time in the ring, besides chronic injuries, was a mysterious muscle-wasting disease that caused him at one point to shrink to a gaunt 150lbs.

As for Cantatore, outside Italy he is thought and spoken of even less. Immediately after this defeat, he came to a mature realization that he simply wasn't cut out for the shark infested heavyweight division. He dropped to cruiser - achieving a modicum of success, twice becoming EBU champ - and never looked back. It was in the CW division that he, like Mavrović, showed his real mettle by giving his all in a world championship tilt. He would get off the canvas and still hold Johnny Nelson to a SD, failing to capture the WBO grand prize at 200lbs. A few years earlier he was thwarted by Wayne Braithwaite when the fought over the WBC version (a chaotic and controversial ending, Braithwaite unloading on Cantatore while he was lodging a complaint with the referee, who stopped it perhaps a tad quickly).

Cantatore was in line to face IBO titlist Antonio Tarver in 2007, pending no banana peels in a tune-up, but a shock banana peel KO2 loss at home in Rome to an unheralded Dane would scupper those plans and lead to his retirement. Since then, he dabbled in some acting but has remained passionate about the fight game - paying it forward as coach, running his own Roman gym called "Top Rank Cantatore" on Via Flamina. He also provides the country's national soccer team with fitness support, and runs boxing and other athletic programs to help marginalized populations (including prisoners, disabled children, and drug addicts). In short he seems like a total gentleman and class act. He remains very popular among Italian fans, due both to his personality and philanthropic works as well as remembrance of his in-ring willingness to rumble - often rushing inside headlong, the consequences be damned.

It was that same recklessness, in fact, that was Cantatore's final undoing versus Mavrović. After being hurt with an uppercut, instead of retreating or clinching the Italian wings a big left hook on a whim & prayer - and gets clonked by what at first blush appears to be a rabbit punch but upon slow motion replay is revealed to have been a right hand bang on the front upper corner of his crown. A perfectly legal kayo shot.

There are some funny moments sprinkled throughout - mostly the cutaways to either man's wife. Jelena Mavrović was her spouse's most ardent cheerleader, and seemed almost impatient for him to deal the death blow (and practically teleported into the ring to celebrate with him) ...and her face-palming secondhand embarrassment when the officials kept interrupting the fight to fix Cantatore's slipping trunks is comedy gold. Meanwhile you have the gorgeous Francesca Minardi growing increasingly concerned for her man, at one point lighting up a cigarette - which a thing people in those days still did indoors, wild as that seems now.