tyson-savon 1993: your pick

[Rover]

Savon wouldn't have a prayer. Not a prayer.

x2

[Rover]

Amateur boxing is almost a different sport than pro boxing from the scoring to the headgear to the weight of the gloves and even the amount of rounds.

Tyson vs. Savon in a professional boxing match would end sort of like Tyson vs. Spinks.

You know who else was a great amateur?

Someone who beat Stevenson in the amateurs as well as Tyson?

Craig Payne.

As a pro he accomplished nothing, being a good amateur does not translate in to being a good professional.

well, yes. but then we have foreman, ali, wlad, just to name a few
olympic champions who did well at the pros ... and they did not
need too much time to adjust for the pro-world.

while i basically agree with the huge difference of amateur versus
pros, i think there is once in a while extraordinary talent that can
quickly adjust for it. and my guess is that savon fell in that category.

and if you will, let savon turn pro in 1993 and let him meet tyson
in 1995 behind bars. this is just hypothetical anyways, i do not know
why some guys here insist on weird detail ...

final thing: we are talking cuba here. i guess their amateur scene
is somewhat different from other parts of the world, simply because
there is no pro-world. thus the huge talents remain ... amateurs.

Ali won Gold in 60 and fought Liston in 64.
Foreman won Gold in 68 and fought for the title in 73.
By the time of Wlad, there had been a change in boxing.
Wlad won Gold in 96 and fought for the WBO belt in 2000. He didn't go anywhere near the real champ, Lewis.
Same for Rigo (in a lower weight class). He's a beltholder.

[Rover]

... being a good amateur does not translate in to being a good professional.

final note. you make some logic mistake here IMHO. while "being a good
amateur does not translate in to being a good professional" necessarily,
it does not do the opposite either: prevent from being a good professional.
as many examples show ...

He isn't saying it prevents you from being a good pro.

[Rover]

Was Tyson not in prison in 93?

Yes.