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Teofilo Stevenson RIP

March51
March51 Posts: 3,256
edited June 2012 in Other Football and Sports
Triple Olympic gold medal winning Cuban heavyweight has died of a heart attack aged 60.

Comments

  • northstandsteve
    northstandsteve Posts: 14,331
    True legend R.I.P.
  • Mortimerician
    Mortimerician Posts: 5,222
    Fing hell. Largely regarded as the best of the best in Cuba. The most mobile HW I've ever seen (apart from CC, obviously).
  • March51
    March51 Posts: 3,256
    And resisted the temptation to nip off to the States and turn pro.
  • Mortimerician
    Mortimerician Posts: 5,222
    And that's the reason he was so loved.
  • ShootersHillGuru
    ShootersHillGuru Posts: 50,632
    Smooth operator. RIP
  • Bedsaddick
    Bedsaddick Posts: 24,765
    http://youtu.be/sOB7_BFqUeU
  • Brendan_O_Connell
    Brendan_O_Connell Posts: 8,938
    RIP
  • tangoflash
    tangoflash Posts: 10,786
    I think he'd have had an excellent chance of becoming world champion if he'd gone pro and would have loved to see him go toe-to-toe with Ali.
    He would have made millions.
    Still, he was a man of principles, which in itself has to be admired.

    R.I.P
  • nolly
    nolly Posts: 12,122
    the olympic gold is the purest thing a boxer can win,amazing fighter my brother met felix savon in cuba last year,he was half decent .... RIP Teofilo
  • SoundAsa£
    SoundAsa£ Posts: 22,486
    edited June 2012
    A wonderfull sportsman.
    However do we really know that he didn't wish to turn pro......Cuba/Castro certainly gave that impression but many bring those claims into question.
    He would have been on a death sentence had he have up'd sticks and defected to 'the west' in order to acheive those goals.......Castro wouldn't have allowed that in a month of Sunday's.

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  • March51
    March51 Posts: 3,256
    Would probably have won a fourth gold but for the communist boycott of the '84 games. He'd have been 36 at the '88 games so perhaps too old but Cuba boycotted them anyway so another chance was lost.
  • MrOneLung
    MrOneLung Posts: 26,876
    Remember him winning when I was a kid, but surely just speculation about how he would have fared in the pros ? Fraudley anyone ?

  • daveaddick
    daveaddick Posts: 1,926
    Great amateur but who knows in the pro game. Tyrell Briggs was a gold medalist at Heavyweight and he was dismembered by Mike Tyson
  • LenGlover
    LenGlover Posts: 31,661
    A great boxer and, had he turned pro when at his peak, would have been second only to Ali at his best in my view with all due respect to Frazier and Foreman. He was past his best when Tyson burst onto the scene. Larry Holmes would have been interesting as he (Larry) always delivered more than I thought he was capable of and became a great in his own right.

    RIP
  • davy macaddick
    davy macaddick Posts: 426
    Fond memories of his performances when i was growing up RIP Big man.

    Just goes to show regardless of fitness etc heart disease can hit anyone.
  • LenGlover
    LenGlover Posts: 31,661
    edited June 2012
    Remember him winning when I was a kid, but surely just speculation about how he would have fared in the pros ? Fraudley anyone ?

    Fraudley shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as TS.

    TS beat the best fighters from behind the iron curtain as, back then, fighters from communist states, with few exceptions, remained "amateur."

    The Klitchkos would have been amateurs and eligible for the Olympics to put it another way had they been around in TS' time.

    Whilst Fraudley won a gold medal and deserves some credit for that the "pool" of top quality opponents was far smaller than in TS' day for the reason given above.

  • jdsd42
    jdsd42 Posts: 1,498
    Remember watching him box at the Olympics a true Champ and the best ever amateur HW I saw , 60 is no age RIP
  • TelMc32
    TelMc32 Posts: 9,058
    I'd echo tango & Len's comments. Remember his fights and reading about him as I was growing up & would love to have seen him v Clay. A devastating right hand and the greatest amateur boxer. RIP Mr Stevenson.
  • Six-a-bag-of-nuts
    Six-a-bag-of-nuts Posts: 8,128
    Stevenson v Ali will forever be one of the great "if only's".
    Prettier than Muhammed too!
  • March51
    March51 Posts: 3,256
    I read in an obit that Stevenson was offered $8m to fight Ali but, as stated above, he stuck to his principles and stayed amateur.

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