Felix Savon... What if?

I know.. It wasn’t so much about both of them being Cuban

 

I dont see much in common with them other than both being tall, Cuban, and a certain skin tone. Gonzalez didn't win the major am titles that Savon did. Gonzalez had no defense for overhand rights which doesn't fly in the pros. That wasn't really Savon's issue.

 

Big issue becomes who the trainer would be. And if money was behind them like DKP or Top Rank as promoters. I sure do not think money would have been behind them---even if it was, DKP is putting his trainer in there.

W/O top management and an elite trainer, the competition at that time sure looks to be too big of a mountain to climb.

 

Being ko artist as AM doesn't always transfer to pro ranks. Alex Ramos
knocked unconsious Juan Roldan in first rd as a AM.

 

After reading In the red corner I think that Savon would not have the discipline to do what is needed to get to the top of the pro game.


He could strut around Havana, everyone telling him how wonderful he is, and he could then get flattened by some unknown (but no doubted skilled) fellow Cuban, and no one would care, because he would deliver in World/Olympic championships.


You cannot do that and get to the top as a pro. Sure you maybe up for a fight with Holyfield, but if you have just walked into the big right hand of Bruce Seldon, because you had not prepared properly, you not getting the Holyfield fight in the first place!

 

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Reminds me of Deontay Wilder with better balance and footwork (expand on YT).

 

Like Bert Cooper didn’t get his number called.

 

Wilder got pretty far with basically 1 offensive weapon, a HUGE right hand.

Savon had natural punching power which is something that you can’t really teach. Some guys are just heavy handed and others are not.

The question would’ve been how well would he catch punches against deadly fully developed PRO fighters with no headgear. The 90’s were a tough era of Heavyweights.

Still a big, long, well schooled guy with an absolute eraser of a right hand is going to probably be lethal in any Era. I’d expect him to do well.

 

And Savon never proved his imperviousness to them given that he never fought in the pros. Gonzalez defeated Bowe, Lewis and Biggs in the amateurs yet still flopped as a professional. Savon has no such wins and lost twice to Odlanier Solis.... Nuff said...

 

Impossible to say.

He might have been another Muhammad Ali or Lennox Lewis, but then again he might have been another Sam Berger or Audley Harrison!

I suspect that he would have been closer to the former end of the spectrum, but you never know!

 

The point of my post earlier was that he beat certain fighters who were almost totally mature as ams but still had pro success. You can read the names. 9 total Olympic and World Am gold medals is far ahead of what Gonzalez did, it shouldn't require explaining. Lewis, Bowe, and Biggs weren't the same guys as ams as they were as pros. Odlanier Solis was better than all three and Gonzalez if you want to bring him in.

 

I saw Felix Savon at the World Amateur Championships in 1991 before he had won any of his Olympic gold medals. He was the real deal, especially as a young bloke on the way up. I saw him years later in 2000 at the Sydney Olympics & he wasn't the same fighter (even though he won the gold). Years of wasting to make the H/W division limit had taken their toll. Being 6"5, his natural growth should have taken him out of that weight class years earlier.

As a young bloke, he was towering, had very quick hands & feet & hurt people when he hit them. Pole-axing David Tua in 17 seconds was a good example. He was electric to watch at the 1991 World Amateur Championships in that when he hit people, it looked like they had been hit with a bolt of electricity. That's my memory of him.

People say that he always fought less experienced opposition - that's not strictly correct. Savon won the World Amateur Championship in 1986 while only a very young man. That was before the likes of Lennox Lewis, Riddick Bowe & Ray Mercer medalled at the 1988 Olympics.

The only reason all those blokes won medals in 1988 was b/c the Eastern block countries (including the Cubans) didn't turn up. Ray Mercer would not have beaten Savon at H/W in 1988. No way in the world. It's also doubtful LL or RB would have beaten the Cuban Super Heavy at the time either. It may still have been Teofilo Stevenson who won the World Amateur Championship at SH/W in 1986.

Savon also regularly beat another fabled Cuban H/W Roberto Balado in Cuban domestic competitions. Balado went on & won Olympic gold at SH/W in 1992 & likely would have added to his tally in subsequent Olympics had he not been tragically killed. Savon beat him at least six times in Cuban domestic competition, including by kayo. His career didn't come on until he left the H/W division to get out of Savon's shadow.

 

Savon actually fought and beat Mercer in 88.

 

Great stuff. Made me somewhat rethink Savon's chances as a pro.

 

If such aces as Savon were trained by Manny Stewart - he would reach the very top; as far as the sporting side is concerned.
In the 90s, Bruce Seldon also took the title
if politics were to interfere - I guarantee nothing.