I was just watching some videos of him on youtube and he owned quite a bit of today's boxers and some past champions. I wish he would have turned pro. The KO of David Tua really shocked me. His timing is incredible.
dsimon writes: Truly amazing what him and stevenson did. people always are so ready to say these guys were inferior because they never fought pro but they fail to realize that the level of domination they did attain was fantastic. Stevrenson and Savon beat a lot of great fighters coming up and if you watch the speed, accuracy, counter punching ability and the defense of these guys it is scary to think what they could have done as pro fighters.
yea, savon whupped a lot of guys. his knockout wins over brewster and briggs were also impressive and fun to watch.
Yes, and Laszlo Papp, who exceeded Savon's and Stevenson's achievements in amateurs, never amounted to jacksquat in the real (pro) ring. I give him props, however. At least Papp tried his luck as pro, Savon and Stevenson never had the balls to do so.
Shame we never got to find out how he might have done against Lewis, Holyfield, Tyson etc. Also a damn shame that his heir apparent Odlainer Solis, who has managed to defect and turn pro has spent his year of freedom stuffing his fat fucking face with German bockwurst.
The man himself gave you an answer on how he would do against them, when he absolutely refused to even entertain the idea of meeting any of the aforementioned boxers in the real ring.
How old was Savon when he fought all these guys and how long had he been fighting? It seems to me that a lot of Cuban ams are good because they are career ams where as most other guys that are any good eventually move on to the pros.
:dunno: Didn't seem to stop hundred of thousands other Cubans from fleeing the Socialist Paradise....
True that, but then, they weren't icons like Savon. He was presumably a huge walking propaganda tool - you have to think there would have been unusual pressures on a guy like that. And he probably woulda lived like a king for the same reasons, I doubt leaving was a particularly enticing prospect. :dunno: Who knows. Its a pitty either way.
When Savon fought Tua, he was 24 if I remember it correctly, he fought Briggs around the same time. It is not like he was a hard-nosed veteran when he whupped the best amateurs, although he obviously had edge in experience. Amateur boxing is a different sport from pros but Savon seemed to have enormous talent. Some are willing to point to his multiple stoppage losses as an amateur as a sign of him failing as a pro. What has to be remembered is that from 90s on amateur fights have been stopped very easily. On amateur rules Arturo Gatti would have numerous first-round defeats on his record
We put players from the Negro leagues on all-time lists or generational lists. The same goes with the NBA and Europe(Sabonis). Is it ok to put these guys on lists of their generations? I would.
savon had been the best heavyweight in the world (amateur) since the 80's. he won his first sr. world championship at 18 and had been jrs. champion at 16.
Chagaev was a great amateur. He is so highly praised from very well respected trainers in europe. That's the only reason why I watch.
dsimon writes: You always come with the same tired bullshit. You use one guy as an example... one guy. And you also fail to realize that while being a respectable olympian is no guarantee of anything, Olympic success has been the mark of many professionals. You are a much worse troll than Rubio because Rubio would have the intelligence to at least have another guy to use as an example to make his point.
Why use another guy, when Papp captures the essense of Cuban/Hungarian/Soviet bums, who "woulda been great pros, if they only fought as pros!!" ? :dunno: Well, Papp was the greatest amateur fighter ever, and actually had balls to try his luck in pros. Didn't achieve ANYTHING worth mentioning. Savon and Stevenson knew very well of Papp's failure as a pro and absolutely dreaded to follow his example
Papp was 31 years old when he became pro, he was simply too old to successfully adapt to the different rules, not to mention he had little time left to achieve anything before he became completely shot.
Yep, he spent his prime in amateurs. What Dymipepel always forgets to mention is also that Papp actually did get a title fight but the Hungarian (=Soviet) goverment interfered. Papp also was undefeated as a pro, won the EBU title and KOed in four rounds a Dane Chis Christensen who went nine rounds against Emile Griffin
Right....Is that another one of the excuses these bums love so much? "I woulda fought for a title, but THEY (the government) interfered.Boo-hoo-hoo-hoo..." Pathetic....The fact is, he never fought for a title :laughing: Is that Papp's biggest achievement? Defeating the legendary :laughing: Chis Christensen ? Seriously, tell me who's the BEST fighter Papp defeated in pros? P.S. Oh, and Mavrovic went 12 rounds with Lennox, while Tyson got KOed in 9. I guess that means Mavrovic is better than Tyson, according to Ugo (since that's what his "Pepp KOed some bum in 4 rounds, while Grifith KOed the same bum in 9 rounds" argument implies)
I remember quite a few guys stopping Felix, but never in any televised bouts here to the United States. He reversed most all of those, and in some instances beat the guy 5 times out of 6 where that RSC was the other guy's only win over him. He was a bit on the chinny side, and that is why he had his style changed. He went from being a stalking fighter in the mid-late 80's, to much more of a boxer/puncher in 90's to the end of his career. He started moving a whole lot more a picking his shots more as opposed to just being hell bent for leather winging for the knockout. He did have a tendency to look awkward at times bounding around the ring like that, kind of like a giraffe with those big long legs of his bounding and jabbing about the canvas, but when he stopped and punched with the right and left hook, he'd freeze a guy first for a split second and then he could knock a guy dead with one shot, I saw him nearly decapitate a few really tough hitters in there over the years.
Who was the Russian that laid Stevenson out a couple of times?? I always felt these Cubans would have gotten exposed in the pro games. And its not just me, guys like Kid Gavilan and Emile Griffith said the same.
Igor Vysotsky. Wasn't a remarkable boxer in any way, except for a fact his presense always woke up an inner bitch in Stevenson. No, no, no! Don't say that, Ortho! Don't you know those Cubans woulda DESTROY everyone if only they had a chance
Igor Vsotsky, or close to that. Igor was a tough left handed banger with a kill or be killed approach to fighting. I know Jimmy Clark owned him, yet Jimmy could never get by Teo, although the ref helped Stevenson in their second fight which Clark really won but was robbed.
I won'i invest more time to this, but that is not what I said or meant. And btw. Mavrovic was able to take a worse beating from Lewis than Tyson and without going down, crying and quitting.:bears:
