Giovanni Parisi dies in car crash

El Guapo! · 28-03-2009 3:20pm #1

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ROME (AP)—Boxer Giovanni Parisi, a former Olympic and world champion, died in a car accident in northern Italy on Wednesday. He was 41.
Parisi died when the car he was driving collided head on with a van on a highway outside the town of Voghera, where he lived, police said. The cause of the accident was under investigation, said police official Alessandro Casanova.
Parisi won the featherweight gold medal at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.
He was the WBO lightweight champion from 1992-94, when he stepped up to junior welterweight. Parisi lost a decision to Julio Cesar Chavez for the WBC crown in 1995, but won the WBO version in 1996 and held it for two years.
He was knocked out trying to claim the WBO welterweight title in 2000, then fought only three times before his last reported bout in 2006, a loss for the European welterweight title.
Parisi finished with a pro record of 41-5-1 and 29 KOs.

“He was in a league of his own,” Italian boxing great Nino Benvenuti told Italy’s SKY TV. “He was very precise, very technically well-prepared, sometimes he just needed to touch his opponents … so they had watch to out for a surprise punch.”

Taken from Ring magazine.

cowzerp · 28-03-2009 3:23pm

R.I.P.

joepenguin · 28-03-2009 10:16pm

R.I.P

megadodge · 31-03-2009 10:29pm

Terrible news.

I have very fond memories of him in the 1988 Olympics. He was definitely one of the most impressive medalists there. In the games he was a switch hitter with a serious punch. I was sure he'd make an excellent pro and I suppose he did ok but nothing compared to what I expected.

Anyway RIP champ.

Giovanni Parisi dies in car crash

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