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Originally posted by YNG
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Cubans that come from the Cuban boxing school can't turn pro, is not allowed in their country, if you want to do it, you have to leave your family behind with the risk of being caught during the escape or the risk of failling in the pros without the option of coming back, some of them were too much into politics and stayed in Cuba because they believed in the revolution and Fidel.
Teofilo Stevenson, Felix Savon, Mario Kindelan, Angel Espinosa, Jose Gomez, Adolfo Horta, Candelario Duvergel, Hector Vinent, Roberto Balado, Angel Herrera are some of the great Cuban amateurs that beat many quality pros and never turned pro themselves.
But so far no one has been able to make the correct transition between amateur and pro.
The biggest one that never turned pro is easily Teofilo Stevenson, Don King, Bob Arum, Angelo Dundee, Emanuel Steward, George Foreman, you can ask to anyone from back then and they all agree that Stevenson was the fighter that everyone wanted to sign, he was tall, he could box and he had great power, he stopped all but two opponents during the 3 olympic games, he was the Val Barker winner at the 1972 games, he beat everyone from the era of the talented and lazy heavyweights, John Tate, Tyrell Biggs, Michael Dokes, Tony Tubbs, he was offered millions for fighting Ali in his pro debut and the fight was almost made but Fidel Castro wanted Stevenson to keep his amateur status so they propose three exhibition bouts, at the end the fight was never made, Ali had a huge respect for Stevenson.
Fighters like Ramon Garbey, Odlanier Solis and Jorge Luis Gonzales were too lazy for the pros, fighters like Guillermo Rigondeaux and Yuriorkis Gamboa were having promotional issues that forced them to take fights against bigger and skilled opponents that stopped them, fighters like Yan Barthelemy and his brothers (Rances and Leduan) and Yordanis Despaigne are just not good enough for the pros and fighters like Joel Casamayor and Diosbelys Hurtado were good enough to capture world titles but weren't able to reach ATG status.
Right now Erislandy Lara is the hope of the Cubans, he is the best fighter at 154 and a win against Jarred Hurt can put him in line for big fights but Hurd while he is not as skilled as Lara, he is far bigger and with great workrate and chin.
There isn't a top Cuban that turned pro in almost ten years, some of the guys that are looking for the 2020 are going for their third or fourth consecutive games.
Many Cuban greats ended in poverty, Angel Espinosa, Angel Herrera, Felix Betancourt and recently I saw a video of the great Mario Kindelan selling his two olympic golds so he could buy a refrigerator, the funny thing is that he says that he believes in Fidel like other people believe in Religion.
Teofilo Stevenson, Felix Savon, Mario Kindelan, Angel Espinosa, Jose Gomez, Adolfo Horta, Candelario Duvergel, Hector Vinent, Roberto Balado, Angel Herrera are some of the great Cuban amateurs that beat many quality pros and never turned pro themselves.
But so far no one has been able to make the correct transition between amateur and pro.
The biggest one that never turned pro is easily Teofilo Stevenson, Don King, Bob Arum, Angelo Dundee, Emanuel Steward, George Foreman, you can ask to anyone from back then and they all agree that Stevenson was the fighter that everyone wanted to sign, he was tall, he could box and he had great power, he stopped all but two opponents during the 3 olympic games, he was the Val Barker winner at the 1972 games, he beat everyone from the era of the talented and lazy heavyweights, John Tate, Tyrell Biggs, Michael Dokes, Tony Tubbs, he was offered millions for fighting Ali in his pro debut and the fight was almost made but Fidel Castro wanted Stevenson to keep his amateur status so they propose three exhibition bouts, at the end the fight was never made, Ali had a huge respect for Stevenson.
Fighters like Ramon Garbey, Odlanier Solis and Jorge Luis Gonzales were too lazy for the pros, fighters like Guillermo Rigondeaux and Yuriorkis Gamboa were having promotional issues that forced them to take fights against bigger and skilled opponents that stopped them, fighters like Yan Barthelemy and his brothers (Rances and Leduan) and Yordanis Despaigne are just not good enough for the pros and fighters like Joel Casamayor and Diosbelys Hurtado were good enough to capture world titles but weren't able to reach ATG status.
Right now Erislandy Lara is the hope of the Cubans, he is the best fighter at 154 and a win against Jarred Hurt can put him in line for big fights but Hurd while he is not as skilled as Lara, he is far bigger and with great workrate and chin.
There isn't a top Cuban that turned pro in almost ten years, some of the guys that are looking for the 2020 are going for their third or fourth consecutive games.
Many Cuban greats ended in poverty, Angel Espinosa, Angel Herrera, Felix Betancourt and recently I saw a video of the great Mario Kindelan selling his two olympic golds so he could buy a refrigerator, the funny thing is that he says that he believes in Fidel like other people believe in Religion.
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