Italian professional boxer, middleweight and Olympic welterweight world champion Giovanni benvenuti, was born on April 26, 1938 in the city of Trieste.
Benvenuti he won the Olympic welterweight title in 1960. He turned professional the following year and won his first 65 matches and the Italian middleweight championship. In 1965 he claimed both the junior middleweight world title and the European middleweight title. The following year he boxed outside of Italy for the first time, retained his European title in a fight in Berlin, but lost his junior middleweight world title to Ki-Soo Kim in a 15-round match in Seoul, South Korea.
Benvenuti went to the United States in 1967 and won the world middleweight title on April 17 by defeating Emile Griffith in a 15-round decision. They met again on September 28, 1967, and in the rematch, Griffith regained the title by prevailing in a 15-round decision. On March 4, 1968, they fought for the third time, and Benvenuti regained the title by winning a 15-round decision. Benvenuti then successfully defended his championship by defeating Don Fullmer in 15 rounds on December 14, 1968. He made two more successful defenses in 1969, winning in the disqualification of Fraser Scott in the seventh round on October 4 and eliminating Luis Rodríguez. in the eleventh round, on November 22.
After being eliminated in the eighth round of a non-title fight with Tom Bethea, Benvenuti defended his title in a rematch against Bethea. The May 23, 1970 game also ended in an eighth round knockout, but this time Benvenuti he was the winner. In your next title defense, Benvenuti he lost the championship when he was eliminated by Carlos Monzón in the 12th round of their match on November 7, 1970.
Benvenuti He tried to regain his title on May 8, 1971, but Monzón eliminated him in the third round. Benvenuti he finished his career after that match with 82 wins (35 by knockout), 7 losses and 1 draw. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1992.