'Nino' Benvenuti, Olympic and professional boxing champ, dies

Italian boxer Giovanni 'Nino' Benvenuti, who won Olympic gold in Rome in 1960, died on Tuesday at the age of 87, the Italian Olympic Committee (IOC) said in a statement, Report informs via ESPN.

Turning professional after the Olympics, Benvenuti was also a world champion in two different weight divisions in the 1960s.

Born in the Istria region in what is part of modern-day Slovenia, Benvenuti won Olympic welterweight gold for Italy with victory over Yuri Radonyak of the Soviet Union in the final.

He was awarded the Val Barker trophy as the outstanding boxer at the 1960 Games -- an event where American Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, won the light heavyweight gold.