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Started By
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Teofilo Stevenson v Ali
Posted on 2/23/25 at 5:17 pm
Posted on 2/23/25 at 5:17 pm
Who ya got?
The fight we should have had.
The fight we should have had.
11
Posted on 2/23/25 at 5:33 pm to prplhze2000
Very few Cuban amateurs have success as pros. Most of them have horrible chins for one. I can still remember when Jorge Luis Gonzalez was supposed to be the next big thing. Riddick Bowe almost killed him 
Posted on 2/23/25 at 5:33 pm to prplhze2000
Funny enough, Fidel Castro asked Roberto Duran this very question. Duran told Castro that Ali would annihilate Stevenson due to cardio. Amateurs only fight three round fights while professionals like Ali regularly fought fifteen round fights. By the fourth or fifth round, Stevenson would be completely exhausted and Ali would be teeing off on him. It would be an ugly and lopsided fight.
Posted on 2/23/25 at 5:41 pm to Bench McElroy
Um he can train and fight some 15 rounders first
Posted on 2/23/25 at 6:06 pm to prplhze2000
Ali easily
Posted on 2/23/25 at 6:20 pm to prplhze2000
If Larry Holmes would have beaten the Great White Hope Dwayne Bobbitt, Holmes would have won gold in 1972.
Posted on 2/23/25 at 11:38 pm to prplhze2000
quote:
Um he can train and fight some 15 rounders first
When are they fighting? Stevenson was 10 yrs younger, so if its in 1972 and Alit is 30 and he is 20, its no contest. Ali wins rather easily. Stevenson might have a shot by the time Ali is 33-35, and probably destroys him anytime after that.
I think the question is, would he have done well in the post Ali landscape of the division against Holmes and others. He was a great amateur, so I don't see why he wouldn't be at least very competitive as a professional.
Posted on 2/24/25 at 12:19 am to prplhze2000
In 1976 Stevenson won Gold in Montreal, in 1975 Ali beat Frazier in The Philippines, after 1975 he wasn't the same Fighter, he looked very bad against Spinks in 1978, Stevenson would definitely have an advantage by '78.
Posted on 2/24/25 at 6:30 am to Basura Blanco
Stevenson's only hope against Ali even in Ali's later years would be a fast and overwhelming start sort of like Tyson would do. But Ali could handle that due to his quickness. Very few heavyweights could move in the ring like Ali could . Frazier came close. But, Ali was a brilliant strategist in the ring. If he took you long you were finished. If he could dance for most of the round early on and chose his shots, you were finished. The only way most had a chance was getting into a full scale brawl like Frazier did.
Spinks I was a mistake for him and he knew it by the second round. Stinks was faster and stronger that fight.
Spinks I was a mistake for him and he knew it by the second round. Stinks was faster and stronger that fight.
Posted on 2/24/25 at 8:36 am to KiwiHead
quote:
Very few heavyweights could move in the ring like Ali could .
By '78 Ali couldn't move like Ali. He caught a ton of shots he never would have before. If TS had trained and fought a few 12-15 round bouts previously, I think he takes Ali.
Posted on 2/24/25 at 9:19 am to SoFla Tideroller
Roberto Duran told Fidel Castro to his face that Ali would annihilate Stevenson. I think he was right with every version of Ali except the brain-damaged, thyroid medicated version that was tossed to Holmes in 1980. Even the late 1970s Ali when he was struggling. Because even a lesser Ali could still summon up the vestages of GOAT-ness ... and I think he was the GOAT, with Louis No. 2 ... like when he was close to stopping Earnie Shavers at the end of their fight even though Shavers had beaten the s**t out of him.
IMO there's a lot of "wishcasting" in this thread.
IMO there's a lot of "wishcasting" in this thread.
Posted on 2/24/25 at 10:12 am to KiwiHead
Watch the Spinks and Evangelista fights. Ali wasn't the same. Although Spinks won in. a split, Evangelista should have won too. Crowd booed the decision.
Posted on 2/24/25 at 10:58 am to prplhze2000
quote:
Who ya got?
The fight we should have had.
Ali fought during the golden age of the heavyweight division. He fought all comers and the best as many as 3 times. Ali ducked no one and in his prime would have made easy work of the slow prodding Stevenson. By the way, if we can use the Wayback machine to make it happen we might as well put them together in their prime. No contest.
Posted on 2/24/25 at 11:11 am to prplhze2000
quote:
The fight we should have had.
Ali easily. Stevenson would have had to train for months to last beyond three rounds.
Ali could go long or short.
Posted on 2/24/25 at 11:14 am to prplhze2000
quote:
Watch the Spinks and Evangelista fights. Ali wasn't the same
No doubt. I think Stevenson takes him at that point of his career.
Ali was 36 years old for the Spinks fight, while Spinks was 25 (basically the age Stevenson/Ali age difference). And this was of course an era of very little weight training and archaic nutrition plans. Ali was also a notoriously poor fight prep guy and never took it as seriously as other fighters. Even being a "young" 36 due to the suspension layoff, he should've retired after the second Spinks fight, if not sooner.
Which is shocking when you consider he became arguably the greatest heavyweight of all-time primarily on talent alone.
Posted on 2/24/25 at 11:17 am to prplhze2000
quote:
The fight we should have had.
Ali would have taken him to the cleaners, come on.
Posted on 2/24/25 at 12:49 pm to Basura Blanco
I wish he’d quit after Manila.
Leon Spinks who’s on the short list for the poorest heavyweight champion ever … I won’t use the word worst to describe anyone with balls enough to get in the ring … won the fight because Ali didn’t take him seriously at all, he had the great George Benson in his corner who gave him a great game plan and they had pumped his shoulder which had a torn muscle full of Novocain. Ali should have had enough left to take him.
Leon Spinks who’s on the short list for the poorest heavyweight champion ever … I won’t use the word worst to describe anyone with balls enough to get in the ring … won the fight because Ali didn’t take him seriously at all, he had the great George Benson in his corner who gave him a great game plan and they had pumped his shoulder which had a torn muscle full of Novocain. Ali should have had enough left to take him.
Posted on 2/24/25 at 12:54 pm to InkStainedWretch
quote:
I wish he’d quit after Manila.
Right. Or after Ken Norton. Could have went out on top against a great opponent. At the very latest (still way too late) after he won the rematch vs Spinks.
Boxers just can't let go.
Posted on 2/24/25 at 1:02 pm to iwyLSUiwy
Ali had a lot of hawgs feeding at his trough. That was the problem. Thankfully through the efforts of his last wife he was financially comfortable at the end.
Posted on 2/24/25 at 1:25 pm to InkStainedWretch
quote:
I wish he’d quit after Manila.
Crazy to think he was already 32 at that point, yet only 29 in "fighter years" due to the three and a half year suspension. That lack of serious training over the suspension took a huge toll.
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