Here are the amateur records of some of your favourite professional fighters.
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FWIW Savon lost to Chagaev in the final of the 1997 AIBA World Championships. (Chagaev was later disqualified because he had two pro fights before the tournament.) Savon enthusiasts dispute the decision, but Savon didn't outclass Chagaev in that fight by any measure. And Chagaev didn't really become a pro HW great...
It's not just the record either, did you ever see him fight? He was tall and rangy, could hit hard enough and had terrific movement. I still think Stevenson was the best Cuban heavy ever and one of the best amateurs ever but Savon was close.Comment
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He won Gold at the World Amateur Boxing Championships in 2003. He won silver the following year in the Olympics. The posted list doesn't seem to distiguish the two.
Alongside the Olympic boxing programme, World Amateur Boxing Championships is the highest level of competition for the sport.
In that 2003 World Boxing Championship, GGG beat Matvey Korobov, Andy Lee, Lucian Bute, Yordanis Despaigne and Oleg Mashkin.
World Championship Medals are distinguished via italics.Comment
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Losing to Chageav is not a barometer of how good Savon was as an amateur and how good he may have been as a pro, this man won 3 Olympic gold medals and 6 World Championships. The consistency of his success is ridiculous. I'm not saying he would have transitioned to the pro ranks and become an ATG but he had the potential.
It's not just the record either, did you ever see him fight? He was tall and rangy, could hit hard enough and had terrific movement. I still think Stevenson was the best Cuban heavy ever and one of the best amateurs ever but Savon was close.
And the best amateur ever was neither Savon nor Stevenson. It was Papp Laci.Comment
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He won Gold at the World Amateur Boxing Championships in 2003. He won silver the following year in the Olympics. The posted list doesn't seem to distiguish the two.
Alongside the Olympic boxing programme, World Amateur Boxing Championships is the highest level of competition for the sport.
In that 2003 World Boxing Championship, GGG beat Matvey Korobov, Andy Lee, Lucian Bute, Yordanis Despaigne and Oleg Mashkin.Comment
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I know it's not an absolute measure of how he good he could have been as a pro. I mentioned it because it's an interesting bit of info not many people seem to know. I myself only remember it because the fight was in my hometown.
And the best amateur ever was neither Savon nor Stevenson. It was Papp Laci.
I would how ever, like to clarify that I believe Teofilo was the best Cuban heavyweight ever, I don't claim him to be the greatest amateur fighter, he is definitely up there though.Comment
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Amateur scoring has become a running joke. It's embarrassing. Every single aspect of boxing in that fight, Floyd clearly won. Every aspect. Particularly the one that matters the most, he hit the guy a lot more than the guy hit him. Still lost.
Happens all the time now though. Judges have no clue, and even if they did, the scoring system is utterly atrocious.Comment
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