Just how "GREAT" were the former American "WORLD CHAMPIONS" of the past??

The dominant light heavyweight amateur of the 1980s wasn't a soviet. It was Cuban Pablo Romero who beat Evander Holyfield at the Pan American Games.
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Of course, he has small chance of beating Michael Spinks for the pro title. However, Pablo Romero never went to the Olympics. In 1980 the light heavyweight gold medal was won by a Yugoslavian named Slobodan Kacar who went pro, won an IBF title beating Eddie Mustafa Muhammad when Michael Spinks moved to heavyweight, only to be knocked out by you guessed it Bobby Czyz.
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I don't know if Huck would have even beaten Haye.

 

Let's have a look at some of these chaps. Shall we?

Teofilo Stevenson beat future heavyweight champion Big John Tate in the amateurs.
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Stevenson beat several talented Americans such as Duane Bobick
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Or Tyrell Biggs
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but he lost to future WBO heavyweight champ Francesco Damiani
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Teofilo won 3 Olympic Gold medals, three amateur world championships, and three Pan American games, but a Soviet boxer Igor Vysotsky beat Stevenson both times they met.
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Besides stopping Stevenson, Vysotsky also stopped future heavyweight pro champion Tony Tubbs, although he also lost to future heavyweight pro champion Greg Page. In 1978, at the tale end of his career, an old out of shape Muhammad Ali sparred three top Soviet amateurs back to back as an exhibition match and Vysotsky was the third among them.
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Stevenson probably could have beaten this version of Ali, since Leon Spinks just had, but Stevenson probably would have struggled quite a bit more against George Foreman or Larry Holmes who were the best American heavyweights at this time.

 

This looks like a straight robbery.

 

This is Felix Savon a top heavyweight amateur from 1987-2000. He probably wouldn't beat Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, Ri**** Bowe, Wlad, or Vitaly Klitschko. But he might have had a shot to beat champions Tony Tucker, Buster Douglas, Tommy Morrison, Herbie Hide, George Foreman, and Bruce Seldon. He holds three Olympic Gold medals, though it should be noted that Mike Tyson and Vitaly Klitschko didn't go to the Olympics, while Lennox Lewis, Rid**** Bowe, and Wladimir Klitschko competed in the higher division of super heavyweight during this time.

Savon was world amateur heavyweight champion 6 times, won the Pan Am games 3 times, Central American Games 4 times, and 4 times won the world cup.

Opponents you might have heard of include future pro champion Ruslan Chagaev, whom Savon both won and lost against.
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Future WBO champ Sultan Ibragimov whom Savon beat.
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Future lineal heavyweight champ Shannon Briggs, whom Savon beat.
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Future WBO champ Lamon Brewster, whom Savon beat.
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Future contender David Tua, whom Savon beat.
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And Odlanier Solis who defeated Savon twice, and lost once to him.

 

This is Mario Kindelan, another Cuban. He won gold medals at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics. He holds amateur victories over future champions Felix Trinidad, Miguel Cotto, Amir Khan, and Andreas Kotelnik. 3 time world champion, 2 time Pan Am champion, 2 time Central American champion. His amateur record is 358-22.

Kindelan vs Khan
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Kindelan vs Kotelnik
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His best years were 1999-2004 when he went on an undefeated streak. If he'd gone pro during that period he would have likely faced Jose Luis Castillo, Floyd Mayweather, Paul Spadafora, or Artur Grigorian at the top. Mayweather and Castillo he might not get past, but the other two are possible.

 

Ariel Hernandez was a Cuban boxer in the middleweight division who won Olympic gold in 92 and 96. He won the world championships twice, Pan Am games once, and Central American games twice. He had wins over Chris Byrd and Sven Ottke. He was best between '92 and '98. That means to be champ he'd have to face the likes of Roy Jones Jr, James Toney, Bernard Hopkins, William Joppy, and John David Jackson. Those first three are a pretty tall order.
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Tysons career?

He made a record number of defenses and is level with Lewis, Vitali and Frazier.

Ali had one more defense than Tyson and only Wladmir, Tommy Burns, Joe Louis and Larry Holmes have more defenses.