Felix Savon: A True Amateur Boxing Star Remembered
By Luca “MamaLuke” Balossino
Félix Savón was once the hope for Cuba to substitute amateur boxing legend Teófilo Stevenson. Savon was a former amateur boxer who won 3 Gold Medals in the heavyweight division at the Olympics. He is also considered a legend in the amateur ranks and won six world titles. he never wanted to become a professional boxer and was well known for rejecting several multimillion dollar offers to fight Mike Tyson as a professional.
During his amateur days he fought former world champions like Michael Bentt which in in an interview back in 2005,Bentt shared his thoughts on Savón “I fought Felix Savon twice, lost to him twice. The first time we fought in Indianapolis, I lost to him on a 4-1 decision, and the second time we fought a week later in the North American Championship in Toronto, he beat me on a 3-2. He’s a bad boy, man. I don’t think in the annals of amateur boxing there has been a heavyweight that was put together as perfectly as Savon. He was like Teófilo Stevenson”.
In 1991 he knocked down another former champion of the world, Shannon Briggs at the Pan American Games. Briggs years later admitted: “I will give Savon his credit, he won the fight, but I think he took advantage of the system. He was a man facing youngsters. This is the case with many of these Cuban fighters. They range between 28 and 30 years old and face guys from 19-21 years. Physically and mentally it is a great advantage. ”
An important fact of what was mentioned by Shannon, is that he was 20 years old and Félix Savón 24 when they fought at the Pan American Games. But Biggs was not the only well know professional boxer that Félix Savón has faced. On November in 1991, Félix would retain his title of World Amateur Champion in Sydney, Australia, knocking out Canadian Kirk Johnson and the New Zealander granite chin, David Tua (which was never knocked down in the amateurs until he met Félix).
He also beat in the Olympics in Sydney 2000 the Russian, Sultan Ibragimov and became the third triple Olympic champion in history, emulating the feats of Laszlo Papp and his country mate Teófilo Stevenson. Félix never became a professional boxer, he was very strict to his beliefs when he was asked about becoming professional: “I am willing to fight anyone anywhere, but I will not change my family or my country for money.”
His country and his family were above all the millions of dollars that were turned down by Savon, which is a perfect example of a man with principles, and not just in the boxing world. If everybody would have the inner self like Félix had, maybe we all would be living in a better world.
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