[yt]sOB7_BFqUeU[/yt] He was great, but has become overrated by some people. People spout off things like "he was as good as Ali" just to sound informed because they know about him and people who aren't as into boxing don't. In reality he was fighting mostly teenagers in 3 round fights, not prime fighters in 15 round fights. He had potential, but he never got the chance to develop and prove himself as a pro, there is a significant difference between what it takes to be an olympic champion and what it takes to be a dominant HW pro champion.
Stevenson was a great, great fighter. He's probably the hardest hitting amateur I've ever seen. He used his height and reach very well and had a monstrous Hearns-like right hand. One thing that would have limited him in the pro game was his chin, he was KO'd quite a few times in the Ams. He's up there with the other great amateur fighters like Savon, Kindelan, Papp and Rigondeaux.
good thing you recognized it. lets see. • hes a natural heavy who has the speed of a lightweight (like ali) • hes tall, like ali (i believe stevenson was 6'6". ali was 6'3") • has an excellent ring generalship (like ali) • he has a good reach and good left jab (like ali, though alis jab was faster) • has an excellent footwork (like ali) • hes a one punch assassin (unlike ali) • he can KO people while stepping backwards (unlike ali) HMMMMM:think
He obviously was great, no denying that, but he was dealing with a lower and probably a much lower class of competitor than Ali. Its a shame because the Soviet and Cuban boxers were robbed of opportunity by their terrible political leaders, but the training for and the actual experience of being in a full length profesional fight that is scored by profesional standards against fully developed fighters isn't just a better test of boxing ability, it actually makes the boxer a better boxer.
he was a great amateur boxer but i dont no what he would have been like as a pro i consider them almost as 2 completly different sports
case to case basis "What is five million $ compare to the love of 5 M cubans." Stevenson was loyal to his governemnt and true to his politics.
Just because he didn't want the opportunity doesn't mean the opportunity wasn't denied. He could have had the love of his countrymen and 5 mil in any free state.
i knew this would evolve into a political debate. anyway, accepting the 5M offer would mean a defection for his part and a betrayal of his politics, which he would never do.
If Cuba had allowed their fighters to turn pro then he could have accepted the money and it wouldn't have been a defection, so he would still be addored by 5 million Cubans.:yep But yes, he was a great amateur, but we can only guess as to how he would have turned out in the Pros.
Great video, my father always used to speak about him saying he was great but I think the professional fight game is completely different to the pro's but my god did that guy have talent! That knockdown where the guy goes down like a sack of **** then get ups and then falls back down again is funny as ****! He looked laid back as **** in them fights!!
that was the 70s. an era very deep with talent. with liston, ali foreman norton frazier around then, he would have been a welcome addition. foreman had this idea that he would have been a champ had he decided to turn pro during his prime
