The Curse of the Cuban Heavyweights

Valdes record isn't that impressive to me, do you disagree? Feasting on the 50's Brit heavyweights who were pretty awful ,and a shot Charles doesn't give me a hard on.
He looks pretty slow in operation.
Valdes was the best of the Cuban heavies,imo but got a lot of ink because he looked the part physically.
Decent jab decent power but not great at any one thing.
He would not have beaten Marciano his chin wasn't that special. A poor man's Greg Page.

 

Head to. head I don't think he beats any of the recent guys except maybe Gonzales or the Solis who showed up in the second Thompson fight. I'd expect Hernandez, Perez, Gomez, Ortiz and 2010 Solis to handle him.

 

I would take Ribalta in his pomp over the 'new breed'.

 

I agree, it's probably to do with culture.
The Cubans who emigrate to the western countries are allowed to do what they want, so they over-indulge. They haven't been exposed to McDonalds, Burger King and KFC, Taco Bell and all that, so they give it a try and like it. No coach breathing down their neck, they can ditch their trainer any day.

In a way, you have to wonder whether there's a 'weakness' in those fighters when they defect to the West.
It's nice to think they are all motivated by some sort of 'politically-awareness' and wanting a better life and a chance to prove themselves, but perhaps they are also motivated by tales of the "easier life" of pro boxers, the chance of getting fat, training less and getting fat paydays.

Whereas in the former "Soviet Bloc" countries, the boxers come up through an amateur system and enter the pro ranks with its culture attached to the traditions.

 

I can agree that Valdes might have picked up an alphabet strap in the 80's His record wasn't terrible but neither was it awe inspiring. The ****ogy of the 50's /80's is on the money a lot of the big boys in both decades dropped the ball and exchanged victories/losses with one another in a pass the parcel merry go round.

 

Not sure why they can't. Here's my theory. To go professional, most Cuban's had to escape the island.

Under the heel of a dictator, they really don't have freedom or access to the finer parts of life in the USA.

While USA teenagers take years to acclimate themselves, top Cuban pro's get paid, and its candy land for them.

I think all three Cuban gold medallists at heavyweight would have made very good pros ( Stevenson, Savon, and Blando ). Stevenson was the best of the lot. A giant with skills, and big time power.

Solis was very skilled but he put on too much weight. Gomez was skilled, and kept his weight even for many years.
For some reason, Cuban heavyweights don't seem very durable. Not sure why.

 

Was the juxtaposition of the word Calvary intentional?

 

I don't know that Stevenson had the ticker for the pros, he dropped a few fights that people aren't aware of ,a big puncher but the rest of his game was pretty ordinary.

 

Nino was a pro long before Castro came to power and banned professional boxing. In fact, 1959 was the year Castro came to power and Nino's last year as a pro.

There were some Cuban big men who kept their weight in check - Juan Carlos Gomez was a successful cruiserweight champ for several years and fought Vitali Klitschko for the WBC heavyweight belt. But he got really lazy in the ring as a heavyweight.

Eliecer Castillo was a good heavyweight and his brother Eliseo was a decent cruiserweight (I think Boxrec has their photos switched).

Yanqui Diaz beat Gomez in a shocker but couldn't do it against anyone else of note.

Solis and Gonzales were disasters.

Stevenson and Savon were tall guys. I don't know how much weight they would've put on.

Savon was so clumsy, though, I never thought he would've gone all the way as a pro.

I still think Stevenson would've been a solid pro. But who knows.

 

I don't think Balado (I think that's who you were referring to) would've been a top pro. He was a stocky guy like Solis. Any weight he added at all would've been too much.

 

I would say Blando was behind Stevenson and Savon for sure, but he was very impressive in the 1992 games.

 

Stevenson would have been a skilled professional super heavyweight. He had tremendous power. As an amatuer he beat Tubbs, Tate and Dokes.

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