BoxRec

Lets imagine that Stevenson had turned professional in 1970, after his 18th birthday and enter the Heavyweight division.

How far do you think Stevenson could have gone as a Professional. To avoid arguements lets say his career spans 1970-1986.

I reckon that Stevenson was skilled and talented enough to be a World Champion.

In the early 70s (during the Ali, Frazier, Foreman era) I think Stevenson would struggle to compete with them. Though I do think he would give Ali difficulty and Teofilo had the tools to beat Frazier.

However, Stevenson would stand a great chance in the late 70s/early 80s.

When you look down the list of WBA champions; Tate, Weaver, Dokes and Coetzee you would certainly think that Stevenson could win that title. Well, that's the way I see it anyway.

On a related note:
Stevenson vs Page would have been a compelling fight to watch

He was only proven against underdeveloped fighters he usually far outstriped in experience and physical tools. Same with Savon. Only under the amateur ruleset as well. I tend to think both were perfect for that set-up, but would've been exposed for their limitations in the pro game, being mainly stand-up, right-hand oriented fighters. Vysotsky had Stevenson's number in the amateur game, anyway.

Contrary to the above post, I believe Frazier would've eaten someone like Stevenson for breakfast.

King Carlos wrote:Contrary to the above post, I believe Frazier would've eaten someone like Stevenson for breakfast.

I do think Frazier has a good chance to win the fight as well, I would see it as fairly even. Frazier would outmuscle and overpower Stevenson.

But maybe, just maybe Stevenson, with his amateur pedigree would be slick enough to putpoint Joe.

He was unbelievable, even as an old man. I watched his rematch with a fired-up Tyrell Biggs the other day on youtube, round about 1983, and the way he fights off the ropes really surprised me. Stevenson could do it all.

Stevenson was a very gifted boxer and he had big league power. In the late 70's I can see him winning a title. As for beating Frazier I think he would have no chance. I'm guessing a Stevenson-Frazier fight would look similar to the Ellis and Foster beat downs.

Crease wrote:Lets imagine that Stevenson had turned professional in 1970, after his 18th birthday and enter the Heavyweight division.

How far do you think Stevenson could have gone as a Professional. To avoid arguements lets say his career spans 1970-1986.

By 1977, Foreman was a broken man, and Ali and Frazier had seen better days. Stevenson for sure could have been champ in this time line.

pound per pound wrote:

Crease wrote:Lets imagine that Stevenson had turned professional in 1970, after his 18th birthday and enter the Heavyweight division.

How far do you think Stevenson could have gone as a Professional. To avoid arguements lets say his career spans 1970-1986.

By 1977, Foreman was a broken man, and Ali and Frazier had seen better days. Stevenson for sure could have been champ in this time line.

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King Carlos wrote:He was only proven against underdeveloped fighters he usually far outstriped in experience and physical tools. Same with Savon. Only under the amateur ruleset as well. I tend to think both were perfect for that set-up, but would've been exposed for their limitations in the pro game, being mainly stand-up, right-hand oriented fighters. Vysotsky had Stevenson's number in the amateur game, anyway.

Contrary to the above post, I believe Frazier would've eaten someone like Stevenson for breakfast.

Amateur Boxing wasn't vastly different in those days. He had a patient and professional style. I have no doubt he could have competed with anyone.

Edit: That is building a career. Going straight into a 15 round fight with Ali wouldn't have went well.

BoxBuzz wrote:

pound per pound wrote:By 1977, Foreman was a broken man, and Ali and Frazier had seen better days. Stevenson for sure could have been champ in this time line.

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I have revised my views on this.

Crease wrote:I do think Frazier has a good chance to win the fight as well, I would see it as fairly even. Frazier would outmuscle and overpower Stevenson.
But maybe, just maybe Stevenson, with his amateur pedigree would be slick enough to putpoint Joe.

When you look at Frazier's record, he consistenly beat all the other top contenders (except Ali and Foreman) and he was a difficult man to beat.

Could Stevenson withstand the heavy hitting of Frazier? No-one can say for sure, but it is clear that Teofilo never fought a puncher like Smokin' Joe.

Actually, I think Joe would probably stop him.

Crease wrote:However, Stevenson would stand a great chance in the late 70s/early 80s. When you look down the list of WBA champions; Tate, Weaver, Dokes and Coetzee you would certainly think that Stevenson could win that title. Well, that's the way I see it anyway.

But there would be some good fights against the WBC Champs like Thomas and Witherspoon.

The Greatest Amateur Boxer Ever

guido5 wrote:The Greatest Amateur Boxer Ever

That's quite a bold statement. Maybe I wouldn't say that, but I would say he is among the best amateur boxers never to turn professional.

And I would go so far as to say he's the best amatuer Heavyweight never to turn pro. (Sorry Savon)

Crease wrote:I reckon that Stevenson was skilled and talented enough to be a World Champion.

In the early 70s (during the Ali, Frazier, Foreman era) I think Stevenson would struggle to compete with them. Though I do think he would give Ali difficulty and Teofilo had the tools to beat Frazier.

However, Stevenson would stand a great chance in the late 70s/early 80s.

When you look down the list of WBA champions; Tate, Weaver, Dokes and Coetzee you would certainly think that Stevenson could win that title. Well, that's the way I see it anyway.

On a related note:
Stevenson vs Page would have been a compelling fight to watch

Two words, Igor Vysotsky. I don't he would have made it to the championship.Amateur and Professional boxing are two different animals.And if Page fought Stevenson in 1978, he would have beaten him.

We will never know. We have no idea if he had the stamina to fight 15-round fights against quality competition. Some guys do great in the amatuers and continue to do great in the pros and some don't. Jorge Gonzalez was great as an amatuer and horrible as a pro.
My guess is that he would have been a top 10 contender; but it is only a guess.

He certainly had the skills to compete with anybody, that's for sure. The thing we'll never know is all the intangibles that you only find out about a guy in the Pro game. How was his stamina? Is the main question, because we know even if he could go 4 or 5 rounds with Joe Frazier, which I'm pretty sure he could. How would he do in round 11 or 12. That's the big unanswered question. That being said, I'm pretty sure he would've at the very least been one of the very noteworthy Contenders of the era even if he couldn't become Champion.

Of course, it's impossible to say for sure, but he definitely would be noticeable. He had a lot of textbook stuff in his game, he was fast, polished and hard-hitting. He had a great basis to be realized.

He would more likely be thrown in the mix of fighters of the late 70s and 80s, where there was a split of the belts, so he could grab some. I wouldn't pick him over Holmes and Tyson or prime Norton, but he could deal with the likes of Witherspoon, Weaver, Thomas, Tubbs, Dokes, etc.

Furthermore, he had amateur wins over Dokes, Tate, Tubbs, Biggs, so he definitely could develop on par with them in the pros. Of course, there also was Bobick, who completely failed as a pro, while he had tied in an amateur rivalry with Stevenson, but hardly Teofilo would be that soft in the pros like Duane.

It's difficult to really assess how good he was when you figure that the vast majority of people he defeated as an amateur were teenage boys when he was a full grown man. He only is interesting to me because on two different occasions he was offered matches with Ali.

The first time was in the early seventies for a 15 round match for the title, the second time was in the late seventies where it would have been a series of three or four round matches over the course of a week.

He wouldn't have had a chance at all in the early seventies but I think he would have came out on top in the late seventies only because if Leon Spinks could do it there's no doubt in my mind that Stevenson could have too.

He claimed he didn't turn professional in protest against the American government for sanctioning Cuba, etc--- and if true it only shows you the communist brainwashing is absolutely tremendous.

He will always be one of those boxing what ifs. Who knows how good he would have been. It's an impossible question to answer. I've seen many Cubans defect from the island to turn professional and most failed--- largely because they couldn't handle the freedom in America.

It's possible the same thing would have happened to Stevenson. His greatness seem to hinge on the fact that the only thing he had going for him was boxing in a place where freedom simply didn't exist.

HomicideHenry wrote: ↑08 Aug 2021, 12:05 The first time was in the early seventies for a 15 round match for the title, the second time was in the late seventies where it would have been a series of three or four round matches over the course of a week.

He wouldn't have had a chance at all in the early seventies but I think he would have came out on top in the late seventies only because if Leon Spinks could do it there's no doubt in my mind that Stevenson could have too.

I agree. When the likes of Ali, Frazier, Foreman and Norton were credible enough, Stevenson wouldn't handle any of them.

HomicideHenry wrote: ↑08 Aug 2021, 12:05 He claimed he didn't turn professional in protest against the American government for sanctioning Cuba, etc--- and if true it only shows you the communist brainwashing is absolutely tremendous.

Right. Furthermore, his country robbed him of a possibility of building a greater legacy even in amateurs, with boycotting the 1984 and 1988 Olympics. But he was happy with that.

His 1984 Olympic run could be interesting, there finally were competetive matchups, Damiani and Biggs. Yes, Stevenson knocked out Biggs in the first fight, but their second one was very close. And Damiani possibly was an absolute kryptonite for both. His losses to Biggs were even more arguable, than Biggs' dec loss to Stevenson.

Francesco Damiani did defeat Stevenson in 1982, and of course as we know the big Italian won silver medals in the 82 Worlds and 84 Olympics. Damiani was 50-7 in the video above.

Having never seen Stevenson in a bout over 3 rounds, I have no idea about how he'd do, except to say this. Going from young and inexperienced ams to the golden age of HW boxing probably wouldn't have been successful. Yet there was so much hype around him in the seventies, I'm sure it would have generated a ton of interest.

He was on the wrong side of the hill in the 80's.

HomicideHenry wrote: ↑08 Aug 2021, 13:28 Francesco Damiani did defeat Stevenson in 1982, and of course as we know the big Italian won silver medals in the 82 Worlds and 84 Olympics. Damiani was 50-7 in the video above.

I'd give a win to Damiani in his Olympic finale against Biggs.

You can transfer ams to pros with full confidence, I'll say, he was about as intimidate as it gets being a huge fan at 7 in 1976.confident if he lost, pasta upset, it would just be holmes