Teófilo Stevenson at home in Havana: 2009
I don’t know much about boxing except you’ve got to be tough, fit, have great courage, explosive power, possess millisecond timing, great technique, killer instinct, psychological insight and like dancing.
Simple, unless somebody else with the above attributes is trying to knock your block off!
In February last year my friend Jonathan in Havana arranged to take me along with another amigo Bob to meet one of the greatest heavyweight boxers ever – Teófilos Stevenson. Winner of 3 Olympic Gold Medals and undefeated for 11 years. We arrived at his home, were welcomed by his lovely wife and waited a while until Teó returned. There was boxing memorabilia, some beautiful art and superb images of him in full flight. Teó is a great Cuban national hero – you can see the picture here of him in the background with Fidel Castro.
Teó walked in and filled the room with his personality; in fact he filled the room with an awesome presence.
We were introduced and he struck me as a real gentleman – relaxed and warm in his home. He’s looked after himself, is in great shape, charismatic and good humoured.
Meeting and photographing Teó was a great privilege, during the conversation he said that he thought of Fidel as his second father and spoke about his trainer Andrei Chervonenko very warmly and it was clear how close they had been from Teó’s expression and tone.
He joked around Muhammad Ali style – he turned down a match with him, $5,000,000 was offered and many people in the boxing world believe that Teó would have been a very real contender.
Ali and Teó became great friends, there can be two of the Greatest – if they say so!
Being with Teó was to be for a short time in that world of grace and danger. The history of the sport, the politics of the time. A very memorable afternoon.
Many thanks and best wishes to Teó his family and to Jonathan.
