How good was ZeJko M

Akinwande level.

 

He had to quit because he became sick. Not sure how good he was on what I saw but a heck of a chin on him.

 

From what I've seen he was a brave fighter who had very good chin , decent skills (euro level - just like Shulz, who beat him at amateurs). Average power. Beat some jorneymen - Julius Francis, Marion Wilson, Prjemysav Saleta.

It's bad his only one good opponent was Lennox Lewis and Mavrovic was forced to retire.

 

Average level, but a granite chin. Never down, never mind out.

 

What was wrong w him ?

 

Some kind of wasting disease if I recall correctly.

 

Super tough fighter with solid boxing skills. I'm not sure, but I think he only had access to sub par training in Croatia.

 

he was to light for his height only 215 lbs for a guy close to 6 foot 5 ....he was a vegan also ...not a great fighter but a granite chin / lewis hit him with sum bombs in leenoxs prime and zelko didnt crumble like vitali ....zelko went 12 ...not tko in 6 ....much better skin then vitali

 

I think Mavrovic showed that a lighter 6'5" man can box at a better pace. He was not marvellous just decent but the pace he brought against Lewis made Lennox look like an overweight , clumsy oaf.

That was the day I decided already big men making themselves bigger could be counter effective but alas the following generations of heavyweights continued to follow Lennox and co in pumping iron, bulking up and training to fight only in explosive burts also. Relying less on skill and pace and more on smothering raw power. Pity that.

 

Choklab.. spot on matey...
Don't want to sidetrack this thread onto Lennox, but he lost his effectiveness IMO the more weight he gained.He became obsessed with size/power, when in fact he was a better all round fighter when he was lighter.
Once you reach a certain weight, i think extra weight is counter productive and more weight doesnt always mean more power.
Speed in itself generates power.

 

In his book, Lennox says Zejko was the toughest guy he fought.

 

Yes I totally agree. As a younger more athletic guy he was much sharper. but trying to be as fair as I can to Lennox from his point of view he possibly had reached the point where he needed to adapt his style somewhat to prolong his career. He already was a fine boxer, natural puncher with a lot of experience and the "fine tuning" Manny Stewart gets credit for was actually Lennox concentrating on basic fundamentals he already had allowing for more economical work. The extra weight allowed him to make less count. but of course with all that talent, size and experience behind him Lennox could usually set the tempo and control range anyway. A different kettle of fish for most of the division who mostly had shorter arms and less experience but still followed the bulking up and explosive spurt route.

Mavrovic would not have lived with a lighter Lewis or a young Larry Holmes who at 205 outpaced a very good 238lb Roy Tiger Williams.

 

Mavrovic was a very average European fighter, Lewis would say that because Lewis was not much better than Mavrovich

 

Die.