Ivan Prebeg

I wanted to mention him, since I made the thread about Urtain and also since I just recently first read about him. My ex-countryman, Ivan Prebeg of Croatia, was the first professional European boxing champion from former Yugoslavia. It was in 1969 when he became the light heavyweight champion of Europe. What is interesting about him is that he actually was a natural cruiserweight, but since that division of course did not exist back then, he first fought as a heavyweight and then light heavyweight, before finishing his career at heavyweight. Prebeg was a hard hitter, judging from his record of 22 ko's of 31 wins. However, like many other ex-Yugoslav fighters, including Mate Parlov, he started his pro career late and therefore didn't perhaps realize his full potential.

Prebeg was born 24 September 1933 in Josipdol, a village near the town of Karlovac in northwest Croatia. He got into boxing late and his first love was football or soccer. He was educated as electromechanic in Zagreb. By a strike of fate, in 1955 he visited the Zagreb boxing club called "Metalac (Metal Worker)" and joined it. He quickly developed but didn't realize his full potential there, which made him move first to Austria and then Germany, in search of better trainers. In Germany he became the member of boxing club Augsburg and fought six fights, winning five and drawing one. He then left for Paris and joined "Stade Municipal de Courbeviole" club, enjoying a successful career with them. Finally, after a satisfactory amateur career, he turned professional in 1961, aged 28. He fought allover the world, between light heavyweight and heavyweight, but his early career was a mixed bag. He lost 8 out of his first 18 matches, also drawing 3. In October 1965, he was knocked out by Jack Bodell by TKO 2 at Wembley. Not long after that, 15 June 1966, he fought for the European title against Karl Mildenberger, but lost by PTS15. After also getting knocked out by Juergen Blin in 5, he decided to campaign as a light heavy. It was there he found success and won 10 fights in a row, beating the noted German contender Lothar Stengel by TKO 6 in Zagreb, where he had returned. His moment of greatness finally came on 28 June 1969, fighting for the European title against Welshman Eddie Avoth, at Shalata Stadium in Zagreb. Avoth was 38-4 and held the British title. He was also 10 years younger than the almost 36-yearold Prebeg, but Prebeg defied the odds, winning after 15 rounds by 73-68 from the sole scoring judge, the referee.

He had to defend his title away however and went to Milan, Italy to fight their favorite, Piero Del Papa. After another 15 rounds were completed, Prebeg was the loser by a decision. Wether it was fair is uncertain, but it's possible because Del Papa was one of the best European lhw's at the time. Prebeg also had problems making the weight and weighed in just above the limit actually. He then decided to go back to heavyweight and in his next fight he was knocked out in 3 by Horst Benedens of Germany, in Germany. He then scored his last victory by beating the 6-0 Charly Graf by KO6 and then drew against Rudiger Schmidtke, a noted contender who later fought John Conteh. His last fight was against Jose Manuel Urtain and he was knocked out by another guy who was 10 years younger, the Basque Hercules, in 3 rounds in Cologne, 27 May 1971. Prebeg was now pushing 38 and he retired with a record of 31 wins, 15 losses and 5 draws. He was featured on the cover of October 1966 issue of The Ring and was the first Croatian and Yugoslav boxer who had this honor.

After retirement he was shortly a boxing coach in a Zagreb club. Ivan Prebeg died 29 June 1995, just before the end of the Croatian war of independence, aged 61. He was buried with honors on Mirogoj, the graveyard where also basketball star Drazen Petrovic was buried. Thousands came to see their beloved hero off. As I already wrote, it's a pity he entered the pro ranks so late, but it also took time before his career took off. It seems he was just of the wrong size, too big for a lhw and too small for a heavyweight. As a cruiserweight he could have been more dominant perhaps. Ivan Prebeg is very significant in the history of Croatian and Yugoslav boxing, as the first one from that country that fought professionally with success. In 1975, he appeared in the Croatian movie "The Passion According to Matthew", a movie about a boxer, where he played his trainer.

http://static.boxrec.com/c/c1/Yvan_Prebeg.jpeg