He was a great amatuer and a solid but not great or particularly special pro. Was a huge light heavy and had a very short prime because of difficulties making weight(Lonnie Bennett was another fighter from that era who suffered here). Parlov was a standup fighter with an at the time very modern amatuer sort of style...awkward and extremely boring to watch imo.He walked around the ring fighting off the backl foot using mainly his footwork and jab for defence.He had little upper-body movement. Offensively he mainly relied on a busy flicking jab and the straight-left.Very accurate, but no real power. HIs best win was a highly controversial decision over an out of sorts Conteh.I think he would be am awkward fight for a lot of the outboxer types at the weight, but the better aggressive guys and brawlers\swarmers would walk through him
Im trying to get a line on that draw with Matthew Saad. Wonder if Trieste had any english language newspapers?
He was OK. He was an Olympic medalist if I remember correctly. He won his title with an impressive KO of Miguel Cuello, and looked like he might be a pretty good fighter; but then he squeaked by John Conteh on a highly controversial decision, and then was beaten to a pulp in a big upset by Marvin Johnson. He has the distinction of having fought in the first ever cruiserweight title fight (a draw vs. Marvin Camel) after the division was created, but he really didn't do much after the Johnson loss.
I'd always heard it was a controversial decision, with many who saw it claiming Saad should've won it (as you would expect).
I think it would have been a brave judge who would have voted against Mate in his Belgrade backyard, Having said that The ref in the Conteh fight had Conteh six points up !! - as i recall the scorecards were not read from the ring (?) Mate quickly went off to be mobbed by his stadium full of fans, The bristish Trade paper Boxing News Headlined its front page "ROBBERY" - it did seem that at home Mates Amatuer Fiddle-Faddle was more appreciated than the more Rounded pro skills of others such as Conteh. Mate did not appear to like it when Conteh switched to the body late on in the fight - the Marv johson camp certainly seemed to pick up on this and Marv sickend Mate to the body for the title, it may als be a little case of Mate getting a bit tight at the weight, as he promptly went up to cruiser. A good boxer, who could use akwardness to his advantage, and if opposing a "Boxer" could do well, (particularly at home).
Conteh had no hope of dethroning Parlov without stopping him, something that all fans should have taken for granted going into Belgrade. Later, I saw a few minutes of Camel/Parlov I, and quickly went into a deep....deep sleep. Parlov was a historical curiosity, as the first professional world champion residing in a Communist nation, and he was a major hero in the former Yugoslavia, but he was also stylistically a dull safety first kind if performer.
Just quick highlights. vs. Cuello: [yt]WdJdupnng00&feature=related[/yt] vs. Johnson: [yt]vWefzLWLPQ8[/yt]
