Marijan Beneš

During his amateur career, Beneš won nine titles in Bosnia, four titles of Yugoslav champion, and a number of other competitions.[6] In 1973, he won the European title in light welterweight in Belgrade and he received the "Golden Badge", an award for the Best Athlete of the year in Yugoslavia. Soon after he caught hepatitis, which could have meant the end of the career. "Radically stubborn" (as he said himself),[1] and devoted to boxing, he decided to continue. He also participated in the 1976 Montreal Olympics, but lost in the second round.

He turned professional in 1977, rising quickly to the European top. On 17 March 1979, in his hometown Banja Luka, he won the EBU title knocking down the defender, French boxer Gilbert Cohen,[7] in the fourth round.[8] He defended the title successfully four times, and lost on points in 1980 to then WBA world junior Middleweight champion Ayub Kalule, for the WBA's world championship in a match regarded as one of toughest in the Denmark ever. He eventually lost the EBU crown to Louis Acaries in 1981.[2]

A severe injury of his left eye effectively sealed his career. It is not exactly known which match caused it; by one account, it was a match with Luigi Minchillo in 1983,[2] and by another, it originated from the 1979 match with Sandy Torres in Zenica, and the condition worsened since.[6] During the career, he suffered a number of other injuries: 26 bone fractures and damaged vocal cords, that caused him to speak quietly and slowly.[1] He withdrew from the ring in 1983, fighting only two more exhibition matches in 1990s. The ring injury eventually left Beneš blind in his left eye.[1]

Beneš's brother was killed in 1992, during the Bosnian War.[1] Beneš also participated in the war.[1] At the end of the war in 1995, he was forced to leave Banja Luka after a number of threats. He sold his possessions cheaply, and during the war he stayed in Medulin and Zagreb, in Croatia, in poverty. He divorced from his wife Stana, who moved to Niš, Serbia, with their daughters Žanet and Marijana.[1][6] As he put it, "everything turned around; people started hating each other overnight…there are great people, but the war helped me realize who is the real people and who is scum."[1] He returned to Banja Luka in 1996, after the end of the war, continuing to live in modesty. "I lived in Croatia, people respected me, but I'm used to the old friends".[1]

In 2004, a documentary film of Beneš's life, titled Bio jednom jedan šampion (Once Upon a Time There Was a Champion) was recorded in the production of Independent Television Banja Luka. Despite modest ambitions, it toured all over the former Yugoslavia, and Beneš was frequent guest on promotions.[1][4]

Beneš lived the rest of his life in Banja Luka under modest circumstances, mostly financed by his sister Ljiljana. He published a book of poems Druga strana medalje (Another Side of Coin), devoted to sports, and he said that he had written a dozen more, and that he planned to publish them. Despite regular physical activity and a healthy diet, his boxing career and advanced age caused some health complications. In 2017, Beneš was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and was wheelchair-bound.[9] He died on 4 September 2018 at the age of 67.[1][6][10]