Teófilo Stevenson

Teófilo Stevenson
Stevenson, 4 October 1985
Statistics
Real name	Teófilo Stevenson Lawrence
Rated at	Heavyweight
Height	6 ft 5 in (196 cm)
Nationality	Cuban
Born	(1952-03-29)29 March 1952 Puerto Padre, Las Tunas Province, Cuba
Died	11 June 2012(2012-06-11) (aged 60) Havana, Cuba
Stance	Orthodox
Medal record Men's boxing Representing  Cuba Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 3 0 0 World Championships 3 0 0 Pan American Games 2 0 1 Total 5 0 0 Olympic Games 1972 Munich Heavyweight 1976 Montreal Heavyweight 1980 Moscow Heavyweight World Amateur Championships 1974 Havana Heavyweight 1978 Belgrade Heavyweight 1986 Reno Super Heavyweight Pan American Games 1971 Cali Heavyweight 1975 Mexico City Heavyweight 1979 San Juan Heavyweight

Teófilo Stevenson Lawrence (29 March 1952 – 11 June 2012) was a Cuban amateur boxer and engineer. Teófilo is one of only three boxers to win three Olympic gold medals, alongside Hungarian László Papp and fellow Cuban Félix Savón.

The BBC described Teófilo as "Cuba's greatest boxer, once its most famous figure after Fidel Castro".

Stevenson was born in Puerto Padre, 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, Teófilo junior 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 provision that the boy was accompanied by his father.

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 Union, who had created Cuba's Escuela de Boxeo (Boxing school) in a derelict old gym in Havana, began to champion Stevenson's progress.