Cuba
Boxing
Overall Rankings
#6 among Boxers
#3 among Cuban Olympians
#2 among Cuban boxers
Olympic Results
1972
Heavyweight - Gold
1976
Heavyweight - Gold
1980
Heavyweight - Gold
Total
Events - 3
Gold - 3
Teofilo Stevenson Lawrence was born on March 29, 1952 in Puerto Padre, Cuba. His father was an immigrant from Saint Vincent, and his mother's parents had immigrated from Saint Kitts. His father had boxed briefly as a young man, and Teofilo began training at the age of 9, and began his career at age 17.
In 1972, at age 20, he made the Cuban Olympic team, and he won each of his first three bouts by TKO, including an opening bout that only lasted 3 minutes. He advanced to the final, where he was to face Ion Alexe of Romania, but he was unable to fight due to an injury from his previous fight, and Stevenson won the gold medal by default.
After winning the World Championship in 1974, he returned to defend his title in 1976 in Montreal, and he was even more dominant, winning two bouts by knockout and one by TKO on his way to the final, where he faced another Romanian, Mircea Simon, who bowed out in the third round, earning Stevenson his second straight gold medal.
After that win, he was offered $5 million to face Muhammad Ali for the world heavyweight title, but it would mean giving up his amateur status, which would make him ineligible for the Olympics, so he declined, saying that the love of 8 million Cubans was worth more than a million dollars.
He began the 1980 Olympics with a pair of knockouts, after which he won his semifinal by unanimous decision, the first time in his Olympic career that a match had gone the full length. He advanced to the final, where he faced Soviet Pyotr Zayev in front of the Soviet crowd, but still managed to win the bout by split decision, becoming the second man in history to win 3 gold medals in boxing.
Stevenson lost in the 1982 World Championships, ending an 11-year unbeaten streak, and then lost another bout in 1983, but was still expected to contend for the gold medal in 1984, until Cuba decided to join the Soviet boycott of the Olympics. He continued fighting, winning another World Championship in 1986, but after Cuba decided to boycott the 1988 Olympics as well, Stevenson retired from boxing.
Following his retirement, Stevenson worked as a boxing trainer and as Vice President of the Cuban Boxing Federation, before passing away in 2012 of a heart attack. He is considered by many to be the greatest boxer to never turn pro, and his three dominant gold medal runs through the Olympics make him one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
No comments:
Post a Comment