In Monea took up boxing at the age of 15 and competed at three Olympic Games (1960, 1964 and 1968) and four European Championships (1961, 1963, 1967 and 1969). Competing as middleweight until 1964, he won a 1960 Olympic bronze and 1963 European Championship silver, while losing his quarter-final bout at both the 1961 European Championships and 1964 Olympics. After the 1964 Olympics, Monea switched to light-heavyweight and won a 1968 Olympic silver and European Championships silvers in 1967 and 1969, losing to Soviet-Lithuanian Danas Pozniakas on all three occasions. Monea was Balkan champion in 1961-63 and Romanian middleweight champion in 1960-64 and light-heavyweight champion in 1965-70. He retired from sports in 1971 and later worked as a boxing coach with Dinamo Bucareşti, his most famous pupil was the 1988 Olympic silver medalist Daniel Dumitrescu.
Romania