OLYMPIC featherweight champion, WBO lightweight and light-welterweight champion. That's enough to define the magnificent career of Giovanni Parisi.

He also fought the legendary Julio Cesar Chavez and was the only Italian boxer who could draw 5,000 paying customers to the Forum in Milan. In the last 20 years, most shows sold less than 3,000.

When you read about big crowds in Italy, you must know that those shows are held in the main square of a town where the boxers are very popular and all the expenses are paid by the mayor, who wants to please his voters by providing entertainment for free. It was the same as when Elton John sang in front of 500,000 people at the Fori Imperiali square in Rome. Going back to Parisi, though, he closed his professional career with a record of 41-5-1 (29). Today, aged 39, he lives in Voghera (Lombardia region, Northern Italy), where he enjoys life.

"I'm administrating the money I earned through boxing, but I plan to return to the boxing business soon," he said. "I want to do something useful for the boxers. They are all in a bad situation today, because they cannot make a decent living with the purses. "They all have a regular job, from Monday to Friday. I never needed it. I'm not disclosing the details of my future involvement in boxing. It will be a surprise for everybody."

During his time in the ring (1989-2000 plus one fight in 2003, one in 2005 and two in 2006), Giovanni defeated two British boxers: Michael Ayers and Nigel Wenton.

"Ayers was picked as challenger for my WBO lightweight title because he was highly ranked, undefeated and had tremendous power [13 wins, 12 by KO]. All this was good to build the show. As a matter of fact, 8,000 fans packed the Palaeur in Rome [April 1993]. Michael gave me a very hard fight, but I won clearly.

"The judges gave me eight, nine and 11 points [margins]. My promoter - the legendary Renzo Spagnoli - wanted me to follow the classic route of defences against washed-up ex-champions to make some easy money. The first fighter he suggested was Eusebio Pedroza, but he was 40 years old and defeating him wouldn't have benefited my reputation. So I told Spagnoli to get somebody who could really give me a challenge and he found Ayers. "I watched the tapes and prepared the right strategy to win. After losing to me, Ayers became IBO lightweight champion. His success

didn't surprise me at all. Wenton was another good fighter. When I defended my WBO light-welterweight belt against him, he couldn't show how good he was because I hit him from every angle, continuously.

"After the end of the eighth, his corner stopped it. When these things happen, usually boxers get angry, but Nigel came toward me and kissed me. I couldn't believe it! He was a real sportsman, who admitted when he lost.

He also knew when it was time to hang up the gloves, another thing that most fighters don't understand. Nigel retired after I beat him."

When talking about the WBO titles, Parisi heats up. "There was no reason for stripping me of the lightweight belt, but they did it. After winning it against Javier Altamirano and defending against Ayers and Antonio Rivera, they realised I would have never lost it. Probably, they wanted somebody else to be champion."

Anyway, Parisi got an even bigger opportunity to become world champion against WBC light-welterweight king Chavez in Las Vegas in April 1995.

"I am the first to admit that Chavez won, but the scorecards were an insult," he said. "Two judges gave him nine points, the third one had Chavez ahead by 13 points. The truth is that Chavez won by three or four points.

Whoever watched the fight, agreed with me.

I fought well, but could have done better because Chavez was not invincible." Another issue Parisi wants to point out is his place in boxing history: "No Italian boxer did what I accomplished," he argues. "I won the Olympic medal and two professional world titles sanctioned by one of the major bodies. I also tried to be the first Italian to win the world championship in three weight divisions when I fought Daniel Santos for the WBO welterweight belt.

I lost by fourth-round knockout, because my best years were behind me [the fight took place in 2000].

"If you look at the international scene, from 1989 to 2000, not many boxers won more than me against high-calibre opposition." You may agree or disagree with Parisi about his position in the all-time rankings, but nobody can deny that he greatly contributed to the history of Italian boxing.