The great Nino Benvenuti has passed away at age 87. The Italian was a two-weight undisputed world champion, at junior middleweight and middleweight. It all started in Iso La D`Istria, the town of Nino`s birth on April 26th, 1938. (Back then it was in Italy but today it`s located in Slovenia). Perhaps his most impressive acheivment came as an amateur in the 1960 Olympics. Nino not only won a gold medal there, he was awarded the Val Barker Award as the most outstanding boxer, getting selected over another gold medal winner, Cassius Clay (who would soon change his name to Muhammad Ali).
Nino fell in love with boxing at the age of thirteen. Of the one hundred and twenty amateur bouts Nino fought he lost only one. He turned pro in 1961 and many of his ninety bouts were thrillers. He embodied technique, power punching, tactical intelligence and unquenchable courage. All this topped off by film star good looks and an aimable, warm, kind personality which meant he was adored throughout Italy…and by the way… in the whole wide World.
Nino`s three battles with the great Emile Griffith stand out in boxing history. He bestrode the Atlantic to reach Madison Square Garden and seized the middleweight title from Griffith. Then he lost the rematch, but characteristically won the decider of the trilogy- thrillogy, also at the Garden.
Before this he thrilled Italy by winning the junior middleweight championship in a slugfest with compatriot Sandro Mazzinghi at the San Siro. After an illustrious career with eighty- two wins, including thirty- five KO`s and just seven losses, Nino called time and became an actor, restauranter and businessman.
At the WBC Convention in Baku, champions flocked to pay tribute to Nino. Impeccably attired, yet modest and still trim and magnificent, he smiled in a shy way and was so very gracious. T
WBC executive Mauro Betti, a friend of Nino's, had this to say: ‘’Nino is a hero. He will always be in our thoughts and our hearts. He gave Italy a lot of joy and is unforgettable. To win the Val Barker Trophy as well as the Gold Medal in Rome at the same Olympic Games as Cassius Clay, then Muhammad Ali, says it all. It makes the difference. ’As a man, Nino was a great personality and very popular. We in Italy have great champions. Nino was a fabulous fighter, but he was also very good with his popularity. He could talk to anybody, a wonderful speaker and a truly great athlete. After his boxing career, he was still in great shape.... There are many champions [but] Nino was so very special. ’When Nino lost [his title] to Carlos Monzon in 1970 in Rome it was a very sad day and then the rematch. Not only in sports, but when a champion finishes, there is another to take his place. Isaac Newton died, but then we had Alberto Einstein. History makes very special things. Sport is like life. ’I remember when I was with Nino in Buenos Aires at the Monument of Carlos Monzon. Nino was very happy to go to Buenos Aires and stay with his old friend. Nino also helped Emile Griffith, when Griffith was having bad moments, inviting him to Italy. That makes a champion to be a special man as well.’’ Boxingtalk joins the WBC and boxing fans around the world in sending its deepest sympathies to the friends and family of the great Nino Benvenuti.
