Felix Savon... What if?

I find it rather difficult to project fighters who never even tasted the pro game. In particular, stamina, chin, and heart are not always tested in the confines of 9 minute matches, and they are all integral parts of the pro game. As such I find it more useful to speculate about the hypothetical careers of decorated amateurs who did turn pro - but perhaps too late. With the latter fighters, we have some indications of their ability to adapt to the pro game.

 

The only guy who did hurt Tua seriously.

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He would need to add 15-20 lbs of muscle to his frame. His ideal fighting weight would be between 220-225 lbs.

If he turned pro in 1990, they would need to carefully bring him up and ensure that he avoids Tyson, Lewis, Bowe and Holyfield until 1994. Then he could have been put in with these guys.

Hard to speculate. Many olympic champs become great boxers (e..g. Foreman) while others bust (e.g. Briggs, Harrison).

He could have been the next Lennox Lewis or the next Audley Harrison

 

One thing that separates Savon from some amateur heavyweight champions (e.g. Biggs or Henry Tillman) is that he was a super hard puncher. He had a dynamite right hand.

Of course you need a lot more than a right hand but having ko power helps. If you have good boxing skills in addition to a 6'5 frame, good durability and physical strength, and ko power in your right hand, then you can be world class.

However, on the other hand, Savon was a grown man fighting young men. You could argue he was a grown man fighting teenage boys. He wouldn't enjoy such overwhelming physical advantages in the pros.

 

Savon (and Stevenson before him) were fighting teenagers primarily when they fought "Western bloc" fighters. I don't think it's necessarily an accurate projection of what happens as a pro.

 

Of course. Tua was a green kid.

 

Just looking through his record, there’s plenty of evidence that he would’ve been good:
—He knocked out Davarryl Williamson who was an adult am.
—Beat Ibragimov in 2000, who was also a full grown man
—Ditto Chagaev in 99
—Beat Samil Sam, Axel Schultz and Krasniqi when they were in their early 20s

I see it as pretty much a foregone conclusion that he would’ve been tier 1 or tier 2 in the 90s, but no worse.

 

true.

I do wonder if memories of this ko dissuaded Tua from chasing Lewis down many years later. Tua seemed afraid of walking into a Savon like right hand from Lewis in that fighter.

 

There already was a Giant Cuban with great amateur pedigree multiple medals and who DID turn pro in the 90s. His name was Jorge Luis Gonzalez...

 

There was a guy with 3 Olympic gold medals and 6 World Am championships and a guy with zero. Do these sound like similar level boxers?

 

Gonzalez won multiple amateur titles and beat Lennox Lewis, Riddick Bowe and Tyrell Biggs all of whom were Olympic medal winners... Gonzalez was simply overshadowed by a fellow countryman who happened to be the greatest heavyweight amateur of all time.

 

Saw that fight on the undercard of Holy-Bowe II

 

true, but while I am somewhat skeptical that Savon would have prospered as a pro, him and Gonzalez are different fighters. One Cuban guy failing doesn't necessarily mean the other would have failed too.