Teófilo Stevenson
Encyclopedia
Teófilo Stevenson Lawrence or Teófilo Stevenson (born March 29, 1952) is a former Cuba
n amateur boxer
. He is one of the only three boxers to win three Olympic gold medals, alongside Hungarian László Papp
and fellow Cuban Félix Savón
.
, 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 top up his meagre 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 on offer to young fighters.
Teófilo junior was a shiftless 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 heavyweight 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.
, 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 in the national team for the 1970 Central American Championships. Defeat 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.
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 a ferocious display in the third round 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 Romanian 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 offering 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, after Papp, to win three Olympic boxing gold medals. At the 2000 Summer Olympics
, Félix Savón
, also from Cuba, became the third boxer to achieve this feat.
Stevenson participated at the 1982 World Championships
in Munich, but lost to the eventual silver medalist and future professional world champion Francesco Damiani
from Italy. This fight ended a 11 years of unbeaten run from Stevenson and it was the only occasion that he did not win the gold medal at the World Championships when he entered the competition.
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 lead, and Stevenson was deprived of the chance to earn a fourth gold. For consolation, he beat the future Olympic champion Tyrell Biggs
in February 1984. In 1986 at the World Amateur Boxing Championships in the USA he won the super heavyweight gold, defeating Alex Garcia
from the United States in the final. He retired from boxing shortly after the Olympics. During his career as a boxer, he won 302 fights and lost only 22. In addition, Stevenson never managed to avenge the two telling defeats in his amateur career, to Igor Vysotsky of Russia, who decisioned and kayoed him.
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.
1976
1980
, who defeated Stevenson twice. Vysotsky later revealed in his interview to East Side Boxing:
when, before boarding a United Airlines
chartered jet that would take the Cuban national boxing team home, he allegedly headbutted a 41 year old United Airlines
ticket counter employee, causing him to break his teeth. According to Stevenson, an "agitator" approached him at the airport shouting insults against the Cuban government and other Cuban subjects. Stevenson failed to attend the subsequent court proceedings, having travelled to Havana after his release from custody while on bail. The Cuban state newspaper Trabajadores blamed what it described as the "Miami mafia
" for provoking the incident, alleging that the Cuban American National Foundation organised a public gathering to abuse Stevenson when he returned to Miami airport after his arrest. The newspaper believed that the motives for the alleged provocation were "again to ruin a Cuban sports star".
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n amateur boxer
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
. He is one of the only three boxers to win three Olympic gold medals, alongside Hungarian László Papp
László Papp
László Papp was a Hungarian boxer, born in Budapest. A southpaw, he won gold medals in the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, and the 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne, Australia...
and fellow Cuban Félix Savón
Félix Savón
Félix Savón Fabre is a Cuban heavyweight boxer, a winner of three gold medals at the Olympic Games. Savón is considered a legend in amateur boxing and has won six world titles....
.
Early years
Stevenson was born in CamagüeyCamagüey
Camagüey is a city and municipality in central Cuba and is the nation's third largest city. It is the capital of the Camagüey Province.After almost continuous attacks from pirates the original city was moved inland in 1528.The new city was built with a confusing lay-out of winding alleys that made...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
. His father Teófilo Stevenson Patterson was an immigrant from Saint Vincent
Saint Vincent (island)
Saint Vincent is a volcanic island in the Caribbean. It is the largest island of the chain called Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It is located in the Caribbean Sea, between Saint Lucia and Grenada. It is composed of partially submerged volcanic mountains...
. His mother Dolores Lawrence was a native Cuban
Cubans
Cubans or Cuban people are the inhabitants or citizens of Cuba. Cuba is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
, but her parents were immigrants from Anglophone
English-speaking world
The English-speaking world consists of those countries or regions that use the English language to one degree or another. For more information, please see:Lists:* List of countries by English-speaking population...
island Saint Kitts
Saint Kitts
Saint Kitts Saint Kitts Saint Kitts (also known more formally as Saint Christopher Island (Saint-Christophe in French) is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean...
. Teófilo senior arrived in Cuba in 1923, finding work wherever he could, before settling in Camagüey
Camagüey
Camagüey is a city and municipality in central Cuba and is the nation's third largest city. It is the capital of the Camagüey Province.After almost continuous attacks from pirates the original city was moved inland in 1528.The new city was built with a confusing lay-out of winding alleys that made...
with Dolores, where he gave English lessons to top up his meagre 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 on offer to young fighters.
Teófilo junior was a shiftless 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 heavyweight 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.
Early Boxing Career
The young Stevenson continued to improve under Herrera in the mid 1960s, winning a junior title and gaining additional training in Havana. His victories drew the attention of Andrei Chervonenko, a leading coach in Cuba's newly implemented state sports system. Professional sport 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 UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, 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 in the national team for the 1970 Central American Championships. Defeat 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
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
crowd. The victory made the entire amateur boxing world take notice of Stevenson as a serious heavyweight contender.
Munich Olympics 1972
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 the other man 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
Duane Bobick
Duane Bobick was a boxer from the United States, who became world amateur heavyweight champion in 1971, and also won the gold medal at the 1971 Pan American Games...
. Bobick, a gold medalist at the 1971 Pan American Games
Boxing at the 1971 Pan American Games
The Men's Boxing Tournament at the 1971 Pan American Games was held in Cali, Colombia, from July 25 to August 6. The light flyweight division was included for the first time.- Medal winners :-Medal table:-External links:...
, 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
George Foreman
George Edward Foreman is an American two-time former World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Olympic gold medalist, ordained Baptist minister, author and successful entrepreneur...
(1968) and Joe Frazier
Joe Frazier
Joseph William "Joe" Frazier , also known as Smokin' Joe, was an Olympic and Undisputed World Heavyweight boxing champion, whose professional career lasted from 1965 to 1976, with a one-fight comeback in 1981....
(1964). After a close first round, Stevenson lost the second, but a ferocious display in the third round 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
Peter Hussing
Peter Hussing was a West German heavyweight boxing champion. Although one of the favorites in European Championship in Katowice in 1975, he was heavily KO-ed by Andrzej Biegalski from Poland, who later became the champion. Four years later, Hussing became the European Champion in Cologne 1979...
in the semi final, and received his gold medal after Romanian Ion Alexe
Ion Alexe
Ion Alexe is a retired heavyweight boxer from Romania, who won the silver medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany...
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.
Other major games
1974 World Amateur Boxing Championships
The Men's 1974 World Amateur Boxing Championships were held in Havana, Cuba from August 17 to 30. The first edition of this competition, held two years before the Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada, was organised by the world governing body for amateur boxing AIBA. A total number of 274 boxers...
in Havana, Cuba, and then in the 1976 Summer Olympics
1976 Summer Olympics
The 1976 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1976. Montreal was awarded the rights to the 1976 Games on May 12, 1970, at the 69th IOC Session in Amsterdam, over the bids of Moscow and...
, held in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, 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
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
fight promoters offering him the amount of five million dollars
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
to challenge world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
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
Pete Rademacher
Thomas Peter Rademacher is a former boxer who made boxing history by being the only man to fight for the world heavyweight championship in his first professional fight.-Amateur career:...
. But he refused, asking "What is one million dollars compared to the love of eight million Cubans?" Stevenson went to the 1980 Summer Olympics
1980 Summer Olympics
The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Moscow in the Soviet Union. In addition, the yachting events were held in Tallinn, and some of the preliminary matches and the quarter-finals of the football tournament...
in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
and became the second boxer ever, after Papp, to win three Olympic boxing gold medals. At the 2000 Summer Olympics
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
, Félix Savón
Félix Savón
Félix Savón Fabre is a Cuban heavyweight boxer, a winner of three gold medals at the Olympic Games. Savón is considered a legend in amateur boxing and has won six world titles....
, also from Cuba, became the third boxer to achieve this feat.
Stevenson participated at the 1982 World Championships
1982 World Amateur Boxing Championships
The Men's 1982 World Amateur Boxing Championships were held in Munich, West Germany from May 4 to 15. The third edition of this competition, held two years before the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, was organised by the world governing body for amateur boxing AIBA.- Medal winners...
in Munich, but lost to the eventual silver medalist and future professional world champion Francesco Damiani
Francesco Damiani
Francesco Damiani is an Italian former boxer who won the silver medal at the 1982 World Championships and at the 1984 Summer Olympics. As a professional, he was the first WBO heavyweight champion.-Amateur:...
from Italy. This fight ended a 11 years of unbeaten run from Stevenson and it was the only occasion that he did not win the gold medal at the World Championships when he entered the competition.
Stevenson might have won a fourth gold medal at the 1984 Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
Olympic Games, but the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
boycotted the games in retaliation for the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
boycott of the 1980 Moscow competition. Cuba followed the Soviet lead, and Stevenson was deprived of the chance to earn a fourth gold. For consolation, he beat the future Olympic champion Tyrell Biggs
Tyrell Biggs
Tyrell Biggs , is an American heavyweight boxer. He won the gold medal at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, CA in boxing at the Superheavyweight division, after gaining bronze the previous year at the 1983 Pan American Games....
in February 1984. In 1986 at the World Amateur Boxing Championships in the USA he won the super heavyweight gold, defeating Alex Garcia
Alex Garcia (boxer)
Alex García is a former US-American heavyweight boxer best known to be a contender in the 1990s. A San Fernando native, and former gang member, he served five years in San Quentin State Prison for stabbing a rival gang member. Upon his release, he found himself training at the Jet Center, where...
from the United States in the final. He retired from boxing shortly after the Olympics. During his career as a boxer, he won 302 fights and lost only 22. In addition, Stevenson never managed to avenge the two telling defeats in his amateur career, to Igor Vysotsky of Russia, who decisioned and kayoed him.
Stevenson was named coach of Cuba's amateur boxing program, and Cuban President Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
presented him with a mansion in an exclusive residential area.
Olympic results
1972- Defeated Ludwik Denderys (Poland) TKO 1
- Defeated Duane BobickDuane BobickDuane Bobick was a boxer from the United States, who became world amateur heavyweight champion in 1971, and also won the gold medal at the 1971 Pan American Games...
(United States) TKO 3 - Defeated Peter HussingPeter HussingPeter Hussing was a West German heavyweight boxing champion. Although one of the favorites in European Championship in Katowice in 1975, he was heavily KO-ed by Andrzej Biegalski from Poland, who later became the champion. Four years later, Hussing became the European Champion in Cologne 1979...
(West Germany) TKO 2 - Defeated Ion AlexeIon AlexeIon Alexe is a retired heavyweight boxer from Romania, who won the silver medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany...
(Romania) walk-over
1976
- 1st round bye
- Defeated Mamadou Drame (Senegal) KO 2
- Defeated Pekka Ruokola (Finland) KO 1
- Defeated John TateJohn Tate (boxer)John Tate was an American prizefighter and Olympic boxer, who briefly held the World Boxing Association heavyweight title from 1979 to 1980.-Amateur career:...
(United States) KO 1 - Defeated Mircea ŞimonMircea SimonMircea Şimon is a retired Romanian boxer. At the 1976 Summer Olympics he won the Heavyweight Silver medal for Romania.-Olympic results:*1st round bye*Defeated Trevor Berbick 5-0...
(Romania) TKO 3
1980
- Defeated Solomon Ataga (Nigeria) KO 1
- Defeated Grzegorz Skrzecz (Poland) KO 3
- Defeated István LévaiIstván LévaiIstván Lévai is a former boxer from Hungary, who won the bronze medal in the Heavyweight division at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow...
(Hungary) 5-0 - Defeated Piotr ZaevPiotr ZaevPyotr Ivanovich Zayev is a former boxer, who won the silver medal for the USSR in the Heavyweight division at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. In the final he was defeated by titleholder Teófilo Stevenson of Cuba...
(Soviet Union) 4-1
Rivalry with Vysotsky
Teófilo Stevenson was known for two fights with soviet boxer Igor VysotskyIgor Vysotsky
Igor Vysotsky was an amateur boxer from Russia, best known for twice defeating 1972, 1976, and 1980 Olympic Gold Medalist Teofilo Stevenson. He was the U.S.S.R. Heavyweight Champion in 1978 and had an amateur record of 161-24....
, who defeated Stevenson twice. Vysotsky later revealed in his interview to East Side Boxing:
Retirement
In 1999, Stevenson was arrested at Miami International AirportMiami International Airport
Miami International Airport , also known as MIA and historically Wilcox Field, is the primary airport serving the South Florida area...
when, before boarding a United Airlines
United Airlines
United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees (which includes the entire holding company United Continental...
chartered jet that would take the Cuban national boxing team home, he allegedly headbutted a 41 year old United Airlines
United Airlines
United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees (which includes the entire holding company United Continental...
ticket counter employee, causing him to break his teeth. According to Stevenson, an "agitator" approached him at the airport shouting insults against the Cuban government and other Cuban subjects. Stevenson failed to attend the subsequent court proceedings, having travelled to Havana after his release from custody while on bail. The Cuban state newspaper Trabajadores blamed what it described as the "Miami mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
" for provoking the incident, alleging that the Cuban American National Foundation organised a public gathering to abuse Stevenson when he returned to Miami airport after his arrest. The newspaper believed that the motives for the alleged provocation were "again to ruin a Cuban sports star".
Other awards
- Stevenson was awarded the Val Barker TrophyVal Barker TrophyThe Val Barker Trophy, named for boxer Val Barker, is presented every four years to an Olympic boxing athlete who exemplifies style during competition.-Recipients:...
for Outstanding Boxer at the 1972 OlympicSummer Olympic GamesThe Summer Olympic Games or the Games of the Olympiad are an international multi-sport event, occurring every four years, organized by the International Olympic Committee. Medals are awarded in each event, with gold medals for first place, silver for second and bronze for third, a tradition that...
Games. - In 1972, Teófilo Stevenson became the Honoured Master of Sports of the USSRUnified Sports Classification System of the USSRUnified Sports Classification System of the USSR is a document which provided general Soviet physical education system requirements for athletes. The classification was established in 1935 and was based on separate classifications, which existed for several sports disciplines before...
, one of a few foreign athletes to be awarded the title in its history.