The Hindu : Sport / Boxing : He chose to remain `red' than be dead

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 13, 2004

Sport

Sport - Boxing

He chose to remain `red' than be dead

ATHENS, AUG. 12. For more than a quarter of a century, one question has been put repeatedly to Cuban heavyweight boxer Teofilo Stevenson.

"Why didn't you accept all those million-dollar offers to turn professional?" the three-times Olympic champion has been repeatedly asked.

His answer has always remained the same. "What is a million dollars compared to the love of my people?"

"Professional boxing treats a fighter like a commodity to be bought and sold and discarded when he is no longer of use," he once said.

"I wouldn't exchange my piece of Cuba for all the money they could give me."

A small-town boy

Born in 1952 in a small town on the north coast, Stevenson was invited to Havana at the age of 13 to train as a boxer. Cuban amateur boxing, assisted by specialist Soviet coaching, was already formidable and Stevenson quickly attracted attention in the most glamorous of the divisions.

At the 1972 Munich Games, Stevenson hammered American Duane Bobick into submission then disposed of West German Peter Hussing to reach the final. He won the gold medal by default when Ion Alexe of Romania turned up with a broken thumb.

By the time of the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Stevenson was at the peak of his powers.

Resisting temptation

Four years later, there were no Americans as the United States boycotted the Moscow Games after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the previous year.

This time Hungarian Istvan Levai became the first person to go the distance against Stevenson, who won a points decision in the final over Pyotr Zaev of the Soviet Union. The American interest in the Cuban was understandable in an era featuring a host of great heavyweights, headed by Muhammad Ali, George Foreman and Joe Frazier.

Don King and Bob Arum were among the promoters who thought the tall, powerful and handsome Stevenson could add lustre to their ranks.

Stevenson remained unwavering, prompting the headline in a 1974 edition of Sports Illustrated: "HE'D RATHER BE RED THAN DEAD."

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