By Neil Amdur. The New York Times. Mar. 3
MOSCOW -- The thrill seemed gone, and the jab, which John Tate once described as a "steering wheel," no longer drove with authority. But Teofilo Stevenson still managed to win a third consecutive heavyweight boxing title today at the XXII Olympic Summer Games.
Only one other fighter, Laszlo Papp of Hungary, collected three gold medals in boxing. Papp won as a middleweight in 1948 and as a light middleweight in 1952 and 1956. He was here today as a Hungarian team coach.
The 29-year-old Stevenson scored a 4-1 decision over Pyotr Zaev of the Soviet Union, who was long on desire but stood a full head shorter than Stevenson.
The gold medal was the sixth for the Cuban boxing squad in these Olympics, one more than the United States won with Sugar Ray Leonard, Howard Davis, Michael and Leon Spinks and Leo Randolph in the 1976 Montreal Games. The Cubans also won two silver and two bronze medals in the 11 weight classes
this year.
Cubans Called 'Best Prepared'
"The Cubans were the best prepared I've ever seen them," Col. Don Hull, an International Boxing Federation official from the United States said today. "They were in excellent condition in every class in every way. They were out to win every fight from the start."
American fighters won four gold medals in the Pan American Games last summer in Puerto Rico, one less than the Cubans. "We'd have gotten our share of medals here," Hull said, when asked for an appraisal. "It would have been a three-way split between us, the Cubans and Russians."
Stevenson undoubtedly would have retained his crown under any circumstances. Beating Americans has become his livelihood since 1972, when he knocked out Duane Bobick to reverse a close loss to Bobick in the 1971 Pan American Games. Tate was his knockout victim in Montreal.
But Stevenson does not appear to be the same keenly ambitious fighter he was in 1972, even if some of the arrogance remains. He is not even the best boxer on the Cuban team now. That distinction must go to Jose Gomez, a 21-year-old middleweight, who has the power and style to succeed as a
professional but probably will remain another amateur symbol for his country.
"I think we've seen Stevenson past his best," Henry Cooper, the former British heavyweight, said today. Cooper watched Stevenson in his four fights, which included two relatively easy knockouts, a decision over a Hungarian, Istvan Levai, who ran for three rounds in the semifinal, and
today's final.
The Tools Are Rusty
"At least the Russian made him fight a little," Cooper said."But the right cross didn't seem that sharp. The jab is just touchy now." How would Stevenson fare against Larry Holmes or other seasoned professionals? "The pros would kill him," Cooper said. "He's a
three-round fighter. They're professionals, he's an amateur. It's like comparing a sprinter and a marathon runner. The pros are in the marathon."
With a crew-cut and husky shoulders, Zaev looked like a marine sergeant from a 1950's situation comedy series. He showed a willingness to test the 6-foot-5-inch Stevenson, but at only 5-9 (the boxing brochure listed Zaev at 5-10 1/2) and 191 pounds, the 27-yearold Soviet fighter was trying to
throw jabs as if he were launching missiles.
"I'm a better boxer than Stevenson," Zaev insisted afterward, "but you have to box twice as well to beat him because he's the champion and the referees and judges favor him."
The capacity crowd of 17,000 watched Cubans beat Soviet fighters in five of six championship matches. Seven Soviet fighters reached finals, but only one, Shamil Sabyrov in the 106-pound class, won. He defeated Hipolito Ramos of Cuba.
Zaev managed to move inside, corner Stevenson and score occasionally with left hooks. But the crowd seemed satisfied that Zaev had gone the distance, only the second fighter to finish three rounds in Stevenson's 11 Olympic bouts.
His Size a Big Advantage
"He's still heads and shoulders above everybody, physically," Hull noted of Stevenson. "He never gets the challenge he deserves because he's so much bigger than they are."
Three judges, from Mexico, Nigeria and Austria, scored the fight for Stevenson, 59-58. An Algerian favored Stevenson, 60-57, while a Nicaraguan gave the nod to Zaev, 59-58.
After having watched 262 fights, some of them woefully one-sided, the judges may have been bleary-eyed by today. It seemed almost inconceivable, for example, that the same Algerian judge voted in favor of Viktor Savchenko, the Soviet fighter, against Gomez.
Gomez floored Savchenko in the final 10 seconds of the first round with a straight right. A short left and another right put the Soviet fighter down with one minute left in the second round, and he took a standing 8-count 20 seconds later. Only his will kept him from being knocked out.
"Gomez is truly a real champion," Hull observed. "He won the World Cup in 1978, and the Russian he beat today was world champion in a weight below before moving up."
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