OLYMPIC BOXER WHO CHOSE COUNTRY OVER MONEY

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: september 2012 :: RMTnews 27 The greatest heavyweight in the history of amateur boxing, Cuban legend Teófilo Stevenson, died recently at the age of 60. Teófilo won three consecutive Olympic gold medals from 1972 to 1980, but he is also famous for turning down million dollar offers to fight Muhammad Ali in 1974. US boxing promoters Bob Arum and Don King tried, separately, to entice him away from Cuba to fight Ali, offering a fortune, but Stevenson said he'd rather keep the love of his people, He would become an international political star at the height of the cold war with a short and eloquent declaration: "What is a million dollars’ worth compared to the love of eight million Cubans?" Paying tribute Fidel Castro said that Teófilo Stevenson deserved the recognition of the Cuban people. “This young man, the humble son of a humble family said he would not exchange his people for all the dollars in the world,” he said. Stevenson’s defiant stand sent political shockwaves through the US establishment similar to the one Ali sparked eight years earlier when he refused to fight in Vietnam. Ali’s famous quote: “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Vietcong” was not only a personal turning point but for the social history of the US and the growing anti-Vietnam war movement. He was dragged in front of the Illinois State Athletic Commission to apologise for refusing the draft but, ever defiant, he shocked them by simply saying: “I don’t have to apologise, I’m not in court”. The US media and the US establishment, that now rewrite history and claim to revere him, led a vicious campaign against Ali, vilifying him, revoking his boxing licence and confiscating his passport so he could not make a living abroad. But he never wavered, inspiring a generation to resist and build the civil rights movement before returning to the ring in 1970 as a hero. Stevenson and Ali are sporting heroes but their principled and defiant resistance to US imperialism against all the odds also remains an inspiration that can never die. OLYMPIC BOXER WHO CHOSE COUNTRY OVER MONEY Cuban boxing legend that refused to fight Muhammad Ali in the United States Teófilo Stevenson dies aged 60 Teófilo Stevenson with Muhammad Ali in 1996 MUCH LOVED: Muhammad Ali receiving a welcome in Hong Kong in 1980 is still much loved and mobbed wherever he goes even today