OLYMPIC LEGENDS & PIONEERS

Teófilo Stevenson

One of the Greatest Olympic Boxers in History

By Rose Hopkins

Teófilo Stevenson Lawrence or Teófilo Stevenson is a former Cuban boxer who made history in amateur boxing, but who refused to turn professional. Many people consider him to be one of the greatest Olympic boxers in history.

Stevenson was born March 29, 1952, in Puerto Padre, Cuba. His father Teófilo Stevenson Patterson was an immigrant from Saint Vincent. His mother Dolores Lawrence was a native Cuban, but her parents were immigrants from Anglophone Island, Saint Kitts. Teófilo senior arrived in Cuba in 1923, finding work wherever he could, before settling in Camagüey with Dolores, where he gave English lessons to help with his meager earnings. Due to his large size, Teófilo senior was encouraged into boxing by local trainers, fighting seven times before becoming disillusioned by the corrupt payment structure offered to young fighters.

Teófilo junior was a restless but bright child, who at nine years old soon found himself sparring at the makeshift open-air gym his father had frequented. Under the tutelage of former national light heavy-weight champion John Herrera, the young Stevenson began his career fighting far more experienced boxers, but according to Herrera, “had what it took.” Despite his growing involvement in the sport, Stevenson had yet to tell his mother about his activities. Eventually Teófilo senior broke the news to his wife, who was furious, but she agreed to acquiesce on the proviso that the boy was accompanied by his father.

The young Stevenson continued to improve under Herrera in the mid 1960s, winning a junior title and gaining additional training in Havana, Cuba. His victories drew the attention of Andrei Chervonenko, a leading coach in Cuba’s newly implemented state sports system. Professional sports throughout the island had been outlawed since 1962 by government resolution 83-A, and all boxing activity had come under the guidance of the government sponsored National Boxing Commission. Chernevenko, a former boxer from Moscow sent by the Soviet Union, who had created Cuba’s Escuela de Boxeo (Boxing school) in a derelict old gym in Havana, began to champion Stevenson’s progress.

Stevenson’s senior boxing career began at age seventeen with a defeat in the National Championships against the experienced heavyweight Gabriel Garcia. Despite the setback, Stevenson went on to register convincing victories over Nancio Carillo and Juan Perez, two of Cuba’s finest boxers in the weight division, securing a place on the National Team for the 1970 Central American Championships. Defeated in the final after three victories was considered no shame, and Stevenson firmly established himself as Cuba’s premier heavyweight. Back in the gym, Chervonenko and leading Cuban boxing coach Alcides Sagarra worked on Stevenson’s jab, which paid dividends when the Cuban easily defeated East Germany’s Bernd Andern in front of a surprised Berlin crowd. The victory made the entire amateur boxing world take notice of Stevenson as a serious heavyweight contender.

Stevenson, now twenty, joined the Cuban boxing team for the Munich Olympics of 1972 with high hopes resting on his performance. His opening bout against experienced Polish fighter Ludwik Denderys began dramatically when Stevenson knocked Denderys down within thirty seconds of the opening bell. The fight was stopped moments later due to a large cut next to the Pole’s eye.

Proceeding to the quarter finals, Stevenson met fancied American boxer Duane Bobick. Bobick, a gold medalist at the 1971 Pan American Games, had beaten Stevenson previously, and was considered favorite to continue the U.S. Team’s dominance of the weight division; previous American Gold Medalists included George Foreman (1968) and Joe Frazier (1964). After a close first round, Stevenson lost the second, but showing a ferocious display of power in the third round, Stevenson knocked Bobick to the canvas three times and the contest was stopped. The victory was viewed on television throughout Cuba, and is still considered Stevenson’s most memorable performance.

Stevenson easily defeated German Peter Hussing in the semi-final, and received his Gold Medal after Ion Alexe failed to appear in the final due to injury. The Cuban boxing team won three Gold Medals, their first in Olympic boxing history, as well as one Silver and one Bronze Medal. The Munich Games established Cuba’s dominance over the amateur sport that was to last decades. It also established Stevenson as the world’s premier amateur heavyweight boxer.

Stevenson did the same at the inaugural 1974 World Championships in Havana, Cuba, and then in the 1976 Summer Olympics, held in Montreal, Stevenson repeated the feat once again. By then, he had become a national hero in Cuba, where he had become a household name. This was the point where he was the closest to signing a professional contract. American fight promoters offered him the amount of five million dollars to challenge World Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali in his first professional bout, which would have made him the second boxer to go straight from the Olympics into a professional debut with the world’s heavyweight crown on the line, after Pete Rademacher.

But he refused, asking “What is one million dollars compared to the love of eight million Cubans?” Stevenson went to the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow and became the second boxer ever to win three Olympic Boxing Gold Medals. At the 2000 Summer Olympics, Félix Savón, also from Cuba, became the third boxer to achieve this.

Stevenson might have won a fourth Gold Medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, but the Soviet Union boycotted the games in retaliation for the United States boycott of the 1980 Moscow competition. Cuba followed the Soviet’s lead, and Stevenson was deprived of the chance to earn a fourth Gold. For consolation, he beat the Olympic Champion Tyrell Biggs in February 1984. He retired from boxing shortly after the Olympics. During his career as a boxer, he has won 302 fights and lost only 22.

Stevenson was named coach of Cuba’s amateur boxing program, and Cuban President Fidel Castro presented him with a mansion in an exclusive residential area. When Stevenson refused to turn professional and fight Ali, the heavyweight scene was vibrant, with fighters of the calibre of Ken Norton, Larry Holmes, George Foreman and Joe Frazier competing. Stevenson would certainly have stirred up the professional boxing world, and fight fans continue to debate the possible outcomes had he fought in the halcyon days of heavyweight boxing. Reprint permission granted by www.bstmlc.com. n