Suppose Teofilo Stevenson would have turned pro

[pete]

I remember an article in a boxing mag in which the writer said Stevenson was knocked out cold more than once as an amateur and that there was no reason to think the pros would be any different.And as others have said,the man against boy matchups that often occur in amateur competitions would be nullified in the top tier of the pros by the likes of a Foreman,Frazier,Quarry,or Ali bearing down on your ass.

[tagjohnson]

Actually I hadn't mentioned Holmes but I think (once again assuming Stevenson's chin and endurance weren't a problem, big ifs) that he would have been very competitive with Holmes although I would have to pick Holmes. Larry I think was very underrated. I think in the end Larry's hand speed and boxing skills would have won it for him. Although Larry was not particularly fast afoot he was definitely faster than Teofilo. PS I think in this debate we have to assume Teofilo would have had at least decent endurance and chin otherwise there is no debate.

[locoxelbox]

Of course it's impossible to know what would have happened had Stevenson turned pro. But many people dismiss cuban boxer's with the argument of "men against boys" and while it is true in some cases it's far from the whole truth. Stevenson was 20 in Munich when he stopped Bobick, who was 22. Bobick had beaten Larry Holmes for a spot on the team. Holmes was 23.
Besides the cuban boxers had/have to compete with the other cubans and eastern europeans who never turned pro.