Teofilo Stevenson

Would've been great to see him mix it up in the pros, for sure. However i'm not sure if he'd tear through them. He stayed his entire life in the amatures where he was more "mature" than "amature", fighting mostly youngsters. Also the pro's is a different game from the amatures, see Tyson/Tillman.

 

It's actually pretty crazy how Stevenson looks so much like Ali.
They could be brothers.

 

Also, the amatures was alot tougher back then than the pussified stuff we have today.

You get wobbled and its over!

 

Scary thing is how he managed to cleanly KO everyone he did even in the amateurs.

One shot power.

 

Somewhat Overrated.Igor Vysotsky.

 

He's very very basic and there's no way he would have defeated good pro heavyweights with just those tools.

Another second rate puncher.

If allowed to develop properly as a pro and improve technically then he could have made some waves and possiblybeen great.the talent was there.

Anyone believing he could have walked right into the pro's and been great with no improvement at all is deluding themselves.

 

Ali said he could have lost to Stevenson if they had fought.

 

Well people seem to think he is going to clean house fighting like he did in the amatuers.

Not even close imo.

He'd need to improve and become a more complete fighter.As i said the foundation is there.

 

My take is that Stevenson was by far the best prospect I have ever seen. His straight right could be the best of all. You listed him as 6' 4", but I think he was closer to 6' 6" with good movement. In the early clips he paws with his left, using it as a range finder. By the later clips he has a strong jab and a dangerous hook. My guess is he would have been the pro champion for years if he got top training. There are questions, of course, that will never be answered about his stamina and his chin, but he is not grossly overbuilt, so I think he would probably have been able to go into the late rounds. I don't see the pros beating him with jabs with that killer right coming over the top.

 

Didn't Don King try to put together a Holmes/Stevenson exhibiton?

 

Stevenson was skilled super heavyweight vs much smaller and less skilled opponents in general. I think he’d make a very good professional. Stevenson's had some weakness though. He did not like to be backed up, and his chin was only average.

 

an average chin means nothing...you can have a good chin or a bad chin and not get koed you can have a great chin and get sparked.

i believe wlad is the best heavywieght in the division right now and he has a bad chin.

also about backing up. he was reputed to be great on the backfoot so being bakced up i dont think is a problem.

against a boxer i think teofilo would of wona title but against a swarmer i think it would be diffrent