Teofilo Stevenson 3 times olympic medal winner - how would he do as a pro?

[BAREKNUCKLES]

Alot of great amateurs are cruddy professional fighters.

Stevenson was a great Amateur, but let's face it, the big boys are in the pros. He was offered 5 million dollars to fight Ali, and turned it down. Ali would have kicked his ass all the way back to Cuba, no matter how many professional fights he had.

Shoulda, woulda, coulda, too late to know now.

[SnoopySmurf]

I just saw the Teofilo Stevenson vs Francesco Damiani.

Complete ownage by Damiani. No way Stevenson could last with Foreman, Norton, Ali, and especially Holmes -IF- he had gone pro. He fights tall and very European like in boxing style. Almost like the Klitchkos.

This is my opinion of course. Perhaps he would have changed his style as a pro.

[kallsop]

the fact that he was offered to fight against ali in a title fight on his pro-debut shows he was something special.

I saw some of his amateur fights. He was a great amateur, and no way he goes into a fight with Ali as his first pro fight and has any chance. None.

[ICEMAN JOHN SCULLY]

Cuba

Punch the fact that he was ofered the fight with Ali had just as much to do with him being from CUBA as it did with his being a 3 time olympian. Look, BOXING PEOPLE know what would have happened....Any number of guys would have wiped him out in the pro ranks. People talk about the three gold medals he won but they dont talk about all the amateur figths he lost, too. Amateur and pro are verydiofferent worlds.....even a great amateur like Andre Ward is matched VERY carefully as a pro. If being a great amateur meant so much he would be fighting Atwon Echols or Robert Allen type fighters already but they arent dumb enough to put him in that deep yet.

[oldwarrior]

teofilo stevenson

i remember seeing stevenson fight. if i remember correctly, he was a southpaw, about the same height and weight as ali and this was the big turn on about him. i think those who have responded to this query are in the ballpark: you can't fight the heavyweight champion of the world in your first fight. i think if he had taken 10-15 fights and learned the "pro" style, it would've been interesting to see how he would've done.

realistically, i think at least one or two of the fighters in that era (60s-70s) would have given stevenson trouble. Who? no one could say for sure.

i agree that stevenson was a "man amoung boys" in his era.

too bad we will never know.

as for felix savon: a lennox lewis wannabe and lennox owes everything to emanuel steward who fixed his footwork and developed him into a heavyweight version of tommy hearns. savon i think would have gone the same route of jorge luis gonzalez, the guy who riddock bowe made mincemeat out of in the pro ranks.

oldwarrior