| Nino Benvenuti | |
| Realname: | Giovanni Benvenuti |
| Nickname: | Nino |
| Weight Class: | |
| Weight: | 79.5 kg |
| Height: | 1.77m (05.81feet) |
| Nationality: | Italian |
| Birth Date: | 26 April 1938 |
| Birth Place: | Isola d'Istria, Kingdom of Italy (now Izola, Slovenia) |
| Style: | Orthodox |
| Total: | 90 |
| Wins: | 82 |
| Ko: | 35 |
| Losses: | 7 |
| Draws: | 1 |
| Show-Medals: | yes |
Giovanni "Nino" Benvenuti (born 26 April 1938) is an Italian former professional boxer and actor. He held world titles in two weight classes, having held the undisputed super-welterweight championship from June 1965 to June 1966 and the undisputed middleweight championship twice, from April to September 1967, and from March 1968 to November 1970. As an amateur welterweight boxer he won the Italian title in 1956–60, the European title in 1957 and 1959, and an Olympic gold medal in 1960, receiving the Val Barker trophy for boxing style. In 1961, having an amateur record of 120-0, he turned professional and won world titles in the light-middleweight division and twice in the middleweight division.[1] Near the end of his boxing career he appeared in two Italian films, Sundance and the Kid (1969) and then in Mark Shoots First (1975).[2]
Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1992. He currently ranks No.32 in BoxRec's ranking of the greatest pound for pound boxers of all time.[3] In 1968, Benvenuti was voted Fighter of the Year by The Ring magazine. In 2011, The Ring magazine ranked him as seventh on their list of the "10 best middleweight title holders of the last 50 years."[4]
On 20 January 1961, Benvenuti made his professional boxing debut, beating Ben Ali Allala by decision in six rounds. He then won 29 fights in a row before challenging for the Italian middleweight title, on 1 March 1963, in Rome against Tommaso Truppi. His winning streak extended to 30 when he knocked out Truppi in round eleven. His winning streak reached 46 wins in a row when he met former world junior middleweight champion Denny Moyer on 18 September 1964, beating Moyer on points in ten rounds.[5]
After reaching 55 wins in a row, including a five-round knockout of Truppi in a rematch, he met world jr. middleweight champion Sandro Mazzinghi in Milan, on 18 June 1965. This was a fight the Italian public clamoured for: both men were Italian, both men claimed to be the best in their division, and they had expressed the desire to fight each other. Benvenuti became the world junior middleweight champion with a sixth-round knockout win.[6] It was common, at that era, for world champions to fight for regional belts after winning the world title, so on 15 October 1965, he added the European belt at the middleweight division, with a sixth-round knockout of Luis Folledo.[7]
A rematch with Mazzinghi took place on 17 December 1965, and Benvenuti retained the world junior middleweight crown after winning a fifteen-round decision. After three non-title wins, including a twelve-round decision over Don Fullmer and a fourteen-round knockout in Germany of Jupp Elze (Benvenuti's first professional fight abroad), he travelled to South Korea, where he lost his world junior middleweight title against Ki-Soo Kim, who won by decision in fifteen rounds on 25 June 1966, breaking Benvenuti's record of 65 consecutive wins. Frustrated by what he perceived as an unjust decision to favour the local boxer, Benvenuti decided to drop the junior middleweight and concentrate on the middleweight division instead.[5]
Benvenuti beat Emile Griffith by decision in fifteen rounds at New York City's Madison Square Garden on 17 April 1967, in what was the beginning of their trilogy of fights, to win the world middleweight title.[8] On a rematch at Shea Stadium on 29 September 1967, he lost by a decision in fifteen rounds.[7]
On 4 March 1968, Benvenuti and Griffith completed their trilogy, once again at Madison Square Garden, with Benvenuti knocking Griffith down in round nine and winning a fifteen-round decision to regain the world middleweight title.[7] On 14 December 1968, in San Remo, he and Fullmer met once again, and Benvenuti retained the world middleweight title with a fifteen-round decision. On 26 May 1969, Benvenuti lost a ten-round decision to former world light heavyweight champion Dick Tiger in a light heavyweight, non-title match. Benvenuti broke his right hand while landing a head punch in the first round,[9] but chose to continue fighting "like a cripple" rather than quit.[10]
The most curious defence of Benvenuti's active reign, took place on 4 October 1969, when he retained the world middleweight title with a seven-round disqualification win over American Fraser Scott at the Stadio S. Paolo in Naples. From the first round, Scott was warned repeatedly, and with increasing intensity from the referee, about attempted butting. Scott, a young fighter unschooled in the European insistence on what his trainer referred to as "that...Olympic stand-up style", knowing only the battle plan he went in with and speaking no Italian, did not understand the warnings at first, then was unable to alter his approach; to the American, he was merely "ducking" Benvenuti's shots. The bout was foul-filled even without this added controversy; Scott would later accuse Benvenuti of having tried to thumb him, and during the sixth round, the fighters' legs became entangled as they wrestled, causing both to crash to the canvas. Round seven saw the stoppage, the referee asserting "attempted butting", Fraser Scott and corner forever insisting he had "ducked".[11]
On 22 November 1969, he beat former world welterweight champion Luis Rodriguez by knockout in 11 rounds to, once again, retain his world middleweight title.[12]
On 13 March 1970, in a non-title bout, Benvenuti was knocked out in the eighth round by unknown American Tom Bethea in Australia. The upset defeat caused Bethea to earn a world title shot at Benvenuti's title. Benvenuti avenged the defeat when the two met again in Umag with an eighth-round knockout.
On 7 November 1970 Benvenuti lost his title in Rome after being knocked out in round twelve by rising star Carlos Monzón.[13]
In 1971, after losing a ten-round decision to José Chirino, a fighter he had picked due to his fighting style's similarities with Monzón, Benvenuti got a rematch with Monzón for the world middleweight title in Monte Carlo on 8 May 1971. Monzón won again in round three when Benvenuti‘s corner threw in the towel. Realizing that he no longer had the stamina to compete with champions of a new generation like Monzón, Benvenuti announced his retirement.
Benvenuti had a record of 82 wins, 7 losses and 1 draw (tie) in 90 professional boxing bouts, with 35 wins by knockout. In 1992 he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.[1] [14]
After retiring from boxing Benvenuti became a successful businessman, TV pundit and city counsellor for sport in Trieste. He opened a high-class restaurant[15] and maintained a strong friendship with his former rivals Monzón and Griffith. In 1980 Benvenuti asked Griffith to be the godfather of one of his sons, and later helped him financially when Griffith was in trouble.[16] Monzón was a guest at Benvenuti's television show several times, and, when he was accused of murdering his wife in 1988, Benvenuti became one of his most loyal supporters, visiting him in jail in Argentina. Benvenuti was a pallbearer at Monzón’s funeral in 1995.[5]
Nino Benvenuti was born in Isola d'Istria, at that time in Italy (now in Slovenia). After the war, his family fled to Italy due to the consequences of the war treaty and the hostilities created by the Yugoslav government.[17]
In 1961 Benvenuti married Giuliana Fonzari; they had four sons and adopted a Tunisian girl. They later divorced, and Benvenuti married Nadia Bertorello, with whom he had one daughter.[18]
| Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 90 | Loss | 82–7–1 | Carlos Monzón | TKO | 3 (15), | 8 May 1971 | |||
| 89 | Loss | 82–6–1 | José Chirino | MD | 10 | 17 Mar 1971 | |||
| 88 | Loss | 82–5–1 | Carlos Monzón | TKO | 12 (15), | 7 Nov 1970 | |||
| 87 | Win | 82–4–1 | Doyle Baird | TKO | 10 (10), | 12 Sep 1970 | |||
| 86 | Win | 81–4–1 | Tom Bethea | KO | 8 (15), | 23 May 1970 | |||
| 85 | Loss | 80–4–1 | Tom Bethea | TKO | 8 (10) | 13 Mar 1970 | |||
| 84 | Win | 80–3–1 | Luis Manuel Rodríguez | KO | 11 (15), | 22 Nov 1969 | |||
| 83 | Win | 79–3–1 | Fraser Scott | DQ | 7 (15), | 4 Oct 1969 | |||
| 82 | Loss | 78–3–1 | Dick Tiger | UD | 10 | 26 May 1969 | |||
| 81 | Win | 78–2–1 | Don Fullmer | UD | 15 | 14 Dec 1968 | |||
| 80 | Draw | 77–2–1 | Doyle Baird | PTS | 10 | 14 Oct 1968 | |||
| 79 | Win | 77–2 | Art Hernandez | UD | 10 | 17 Sep 1968 | |||
| 78 | Win | 76–2 | Jimmy Ramos | RTD | 4 (10), | 5 Jul 1968 | |||
| 77 | Win | 75–2 | Yoshiaki Akasaka | KO | 2 (10) | 7 Jun 1968 | |||
| 76 | Win | 74–2 | Emile Griffith | UD | 15 | 4 Mar 1968 | |||
| 75 | Win | 73–2 | Charley Austin | PTS | 10 | 19 Jan 1968 | |||
| 74 | Loss | 72–2 | Emile Griffith | MD | 15 | 29 Sep 1967 | |||
| 73 | Win | 72–1 | Emile Griffith | UD | 15 | 17 Apr 1967 | |||
| 72 | Win | 71–1 | Milo Calhoun | PTS | 10 | 3 Mar 1967 | |||
| 71 | Win | 70–1 | Manfred Graus | KO | 2 (10), | 19 Jan 1967 | |||
| 70 | Win | 69–1 | Renato Moraes | KO | 9 (10) | 23 Dec 1966 | |||
| 69 | Win | 68–1 | Ferd Hernandez | PTS | 10 | 2 Dec 1966 | |||
| 68 | Win | 67–1 | Pascal Di Benedetto | RTD | 11 (15) | 21 Oct 1966 | |||
| 67 | Win | 66–1 | Harry Scott | PTS | 10 | 23 Sep 1966 | |||
| 66 | Loss | 65–1 | Kim Ki-Soo | SD | 15 | 25 Jun 1966 | |||
| 65 | Win | 65–0 | Jupp Elze | TKO | 14 (15), | 14 May 1966 | |||
| 64 | Win | 64–0 | Clarence James | PTS | 10 | 11 Mar 1966 | |||
| 63 | Win | 63–0 | Don Fullmer | UD | 12 | 4 Feb 1966 | |||
| 62 | Win | 62–0 | Sandro Mazzinghi | UD | 15 | 17 Dec 1965 | |||
| 61 | Win | 61–0 | James Shelton | PTS | 10 | 15 Nov 1965 | |||
| 60 | Win | 60–0 | Johnny Torres | DQ | 7 (10) | 5 Nov 1965 | |||
| 59 | Win | 59–0 | Luis Folledo | KO | 6 (15) | 15 Oct 1965 | |||
| 58 | Win | 58–0 | Daniel Leullier | TKO | 7 (10) | 16 Aug 1965 | |||
| 57 | Win | 57–0 | Sandro Mazzinghi | KO | 6 (15), | 18 Jun 1965 | |||
| 56 | Win | 56–0 | Milo Calhoun | PTS | 10 | 30 Apr 1965 | |||
| 55 | Win | 55–0 | Rip Randall | PTS | 10 | 2 Apr 1965 | |||
| 54 | Win | 54–0 | Dick Knight | KO | 6 (10) | 19 Mar 1965 | |||
| 53 | Win | 53–0 | Mick Leahy | PTS | 10 | 27 Feb 1965 | |||
| 52 | Win | 52–0 | Tommaso Truppi | RTD | 5 (12) | 12 Feb 1965 | |||
| 51 | Win | 51–0 | Art Hernandez | TKO | 3 (10), | 22 Jan 1965 | |||
| 50 | Win | 50–0 | Juan Carlos Durán | PTS | 10 | 19 Dec 1964 | |||
| 49 | Win | 49–0 | Aristeo Chavarin | KO | 4 (10) | 27 Nov 1964 | |||
| 48 | Win | 48–0 | Abrao De Souza | DQ | 7 (10) | 9 Oct 1964 | |||
| 47 | Win | 47–0 | Denny Moyer | PTS | 10 | 18 Sep 1964 | |||
| 46 | Win | 46–0 | Fabio Bettini | PTS | 12 | 30 Jul 1964 | |||
| 45 | Win | 45–0 | Jimmy Beecham | TKO | 2 (10) | 28 May 1964 | |||
| 44 | Win | 44–0 | Sugar Boy Nando | PTS | 10 | 10 Apr 1964 | |||
| 43 | Win | 43–0 | Michel Diouf | PTS | 10 | 18 Mar 1964 | |||
| 42 | Win | 42–0 | Memo Ayon | KO | 5 (10), | 28 Feb 1964 | |||
| 41 | Win | 41–0 | Ted Wright | PTS | 10 | 13 Dec 1963 | |||
| 40 | Win | 40–0 | Luis Gutierrez | TKO | 7 (10) | 15 Nov 1963 | |||
| 39 | Win | 39–0 | Jackie Cailleau | PTS | 10 | 7 Nov 1963 | |||
| 38 | Win | 38–0 | Gaspar Ortega | PTS | 10 | 18 Oct 1963 | |||
| 37 | Win | 37–0 | Víctor Zalazar | TKO | 2 (10) | 27 Sep 1963 | |||
| 36 | Win | 36–0 | Wilhelm Niederau | TKO | 6 (10) | 16 Sep 1963 | |||
| 35 | Win | 35–0 | Francesco Fiori | TKO | 3 (12) | 31 Aug 1963 | |||
| 34 | Win | 34–0 | Tony Montano | PTS | 10 | 7 Jun 1963 | |||
| 33 | Win | 33–0 | Jimmy Beecham | PTS | 10 | 23 May 1963 | |||
| 32 | Win | 32–0 | Jean Ruellet | PTS | 10 | 24 Apr 1963 | |||
| 31 | Win | 31–0 | Georges Estatoff | KO | 6 (10), | 5 Apr 1963 | |||
| 30 | Win | 30–0 | Tommaso Truppi | KO | 11 (12) | 1 Mar 1963 | |||
| 29 | Win | 29–0 | Giampaolo Melis | KO | 2 (10) | 26 Dec 1962 | |||
| 28 | Win | 28–0 | Isaac Logart | PTS | 10 | 30 Nov 1962 | |||
| 27 | Win | 27–0 | Daniel Leullier | PTS | 10 | 18 Oct 1962 | |||
| 26 | Win | 26–0 | Diego Infantes | PTS | 8 | 28 Sep 1962 | |||
| 25 | Win | 25–0 | Giuseppe Gentiletti | KO | 2 (10) | 30 Aug 1962 | |||
| 24 | Win | 24–0 | Mahmout le Noir | PTS | 8 | 2 Aug 1962 | |||
| 23 | Win | 23–0 | Gino Rossi | PTS | 10 | 12 Jul 1962 | |||
| 22 | Win | 22–0 | Heinz Freytag | PTS | 8 | 22 Jun 1962 | |||
| 21 | Win | 21–0 | Jean Ruellet | PTS | 8 | 2 Jun 1962 | |||
| 20 | Win | 20–0 | Hector Constance | PTS | 10 | 1 May 1962 | |||
| 19 | Win | 19–0 | Jim Hegerle | KO | 4 (11) | 13 Apr 1962 | |||
| 18 | Win | 18–0 | Gianni Lommi | KO | 5 (10) | 17 Mar 1962 | |||
| 17 | Win | 17–0 | Manfred Haas | PTS | 8 | 8 Mar 1962 | |||
| 16 | Win | 16–0 | José Riquelme | PTS | 8 | 19 Feb 1962 | |||
| 15 | Win | 15–0 | George Aldridge | KO | 6 (10) | 19 Jan 1962 | |||
| 14 | Win | 14–0 | Giuseppe Catalano | PTS | 8 | 20 Dec 1961 | |||
| 13 | Win | 13–0 | Jesse Jones | DQ | 6 (8) | 9 Nov 1961 | |||
| 12 | Win | 12–0 | Angelo Brisci | KO | 1 (8) | 1 Nov 1961 | |||
| 11 | Win | 11–0 | Retmia Mahrez | TKO | 3 (8) | 2 Oct 1961 | |||
| 10 | Win | 10–0 | Marc Desforneaux | PTS | 6 | 17 Jun 1961 | |||
| 9 | Win | 9–0 | Henri Cabelduc | PTS | 6 | 7 Jun 1961 | |||
| 8 | Win | 8–0 | Michel Francois | KO | 4 (8) | 16 May 1961 | |||
| 7 | Win | 7–0 | Daniel Brunet | DQ | 3 (8) | 3 May 1961 | |||
| 6 | Win | 6–0 | Pierre Mondino | PTS | 6 | 21 Apr 1961 | |||
| 5 | Win | 5–0 | Nic Maric | PTS | 6 | 7 Apr 1961 | |||
| 4 | Win | 4–0 | Sahib Mosri | KO | 3 (6) | 14 Mar 1961 | |||
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Ben Ali Allala | KO | 1 (6) | 27 Feb 1961 | |||
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Nicola Sammartino | KO | 3 (6) | 10 Feb 1961 | |||
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Ben Ali Allala | PTS | 6 | 20 Jan 1961 |
On 7 May 2015, in the presence of the President of Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI), Giovanni Malagò, was inaugurated in the Olympic Park of the Foro Italico in Rome, along Viale delle Olimpiadi, the Walk of Fame of Italian sport, consisting of 100 tiles that chronologically report names of the most representative athletes in the history of Italian sport. On each tile is the name of the sportsman, the sport in which he distinguished himself and the symbol of CONI. One of the tiles is dedicated to Nino Benvenuti.[19]