Amateur stars you wish would have turned pro?

^^^ this every day of the week.

 

One of Boxings Great Tragedy's....

 

What about the Russian that won the gold in 2004 that beat Golovkin in the final?

 

I cannot confirm 100% but I remember hearing that he loved his job in the Police and didnt want to risk long term damage that pro boxing inflicts

 

Cubans.

 

Definitely Teofilo Stevenson, he was an amazingly gifted boxer and would have slotted right in with Ali, Foreman, Frazier, Norton and the rest. He would have elevated an already golden Heavyweight era to completely new levels.

At 6’5” and around 230lbs he had slick boxing skills and movement but also had power and heart to match.
3 X Olympic Gold
3 X World Gold
a host of other amateur titles at very high levels

IMO he’s the one that got away, the one question Ali never answered
Well never know!

 

Stevenson got bossed by Damiani. No answer for a rough in-fighter that wouldn't allow him the space to throw his right hand. A guy like Frazier would've torn him apart.

 

I think you overstate Damianis performance somewhat, yes he clearly won the fight but he was crudely lunging forward with left & right hooks throughout, none of which had any power on them. Such was the scoring in amateur boxing that he scored points and won the rounds by doing so.

That said, he fought Stevenson after he’d pretty much been inactive for 12 months and apart from being ring rusty he’d dropped a lot of weight to get back into boxing shape. I know this much, despite the loss to him, Damiani wasn’t in Stevenson’s class.

Styles make fights too, maybe Damiani or Frazier would always have Stevenson’s number?

We’ll never know how good Teófilo Stevenson could have been had he turned pro at a much younger age and benefited from a pro trainer and pro training camps.

 

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Angel Espinosa is in my opinion the best boxer that never turned pro.

 

Teofilo Stevenson, Mario Kindelan, Serik Sapiyev, Aleksei Tishchenko , Vyacheslav Lemeshev, Adolfo Horta, Ariel Hernandez, Felix Savon, Roberto Balado, Boris Lagutin, Valeri Popenchenko, Hector Vinent, Juan Carlos Lemus, Yermakhan Ibraimov, Juan Hernandez Sierra, Aleksandr Lebziak, Jose Gomez, Candelario Duvergel.

 

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Igor Vysotsky

 

Viktor Rybakov would have been a good pro, but no promoter wanted to sign him.
He still had one professional bout somehow.