Giovanni Parisi

Giovanni Parisi
Data
Birth Name	Giovanni Parisi
Weight class	Welterweight
nationality	Italian
birthday	2nd December 1967
place of birth	Vibo Valentia
Date of death	March 25, 2009
Place of death	Voghera
style	Left delivery
size	1.73 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	47
Victories	41
Knockout victories	29
Defeats	5
draw	1

Giovanni Parisi (born December 2, 1967 in Vibo Valentia , † March 25, 2009 in Voghera ) was an Italian boxer .

amateur

Parisi retired at the European Championships 1987 in Turin in the first round, but won at the 1988 Olympic Games from Seoul gold in the featherweight . He showed considerable clout with three knockout successes, especially in the semifinals and finals: he defeated the Taiwanese Chin-Hsiung Lu on points, Michail Kasarian from the Soviet Union with RSCH2, the Israeli Yacov Schmuel on points, the Moroccan Abdelhak Achik RSC1 and the Romanian Daniel Dumitrescu KO1.

professional

Parisi turned pro in 1988 and won his first twelve fights until he was knocked out in November 1990 against the Puerto Rican Antonio Rivera in his homeland. The ability to take was always one of his problems; as a professional, despite the outstanding amateur results, he only showed average effectiveness. On September 25, 1992 he won the vacant WBO title against the Mexican Javier Altamirano. How little this title was worth to the newly formed WBO at this point in time becomes clear when you consider that the Mexican had failed to become the Mexican champion of this class in two attempts. He defended twice, including a clear win over Rivera on points, but was not taken seriously internationally.

Parisi went to the USA and clearly defeated a class higher in the light welterweight division against Freddie Pendleton, who was one of the world class despite a mixed record. He got for it on April 8, 1995 a world championship fight of the WBC association against the aging Mexican star Julio César Chávez , which he made quite balanced despite suffered rain, even if he lost.

He fought against Sammy Fuentes in March 1996 for the vacant WBO title in this class and won by technical knockout in the eighth round. Against Carlos González , he boxed three months later, but lost the title in the 1998 rematch to the Mexican.

He also went KO in a WBO welterweight title fight against Puerto Rican Daniel Santos in 2000. After this defeat, he did not box for two and a half years. In October 2006 he was defeated by the French Frederic Klose in the fight for the European Championship on points.

On March 25, 2009, Parisi was killed in a car accident near Voghera, where he had lived for a long time, when his car collided head-on with a truck . Parisi was dead on the spot.

predecessor	Office	successor
Dingaan Thobela	World lightweight boxing champion ( WBO ) September 25, 1992 - 1994	Óscar de la Hoya

predecessor	Office	successor
Sammy Fuentes	Light welterweight boxing champion ( WBO ) March 9, 1996 - May 29, 1998	Carlos González

Web links

• Giovanni Parisi in the BoxRec database

Individual evidence

1. ^ La tragica fine di Parisi muore in incidente stradale. www.gazzetta.it, March 25, 2009, accessed March 25, 2009 (Italian).