Savon adapting to life outside ring

HAVANA (AP) -- The big man at the corner shouts at his boxer, leaning forward, waving and punching his hands as if he were in the ring himself.

"It's very difficult for me, but there's no option," said Felix Savon, the 6-foot-6 (1.96-meter) Cuban champion who retired from the ring after the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. International boxing age limits forced his retirement.

"When I see the boxers in the ring I feel great nostalgia and a lot of sadness. I miss boxing so much."

Six times a world amateur champion in the 91-kilo (200-pound) class, three times an Olympic gold medalist, the 35-year-old Savon now trains other Cuban boxers. With a bit of training to shed recently added pounds, he probably could still whip most of the men trying to succeed him.

"I get very tense when I see a man fighting, but I have to control myself because I transmit my tension and that isn't good. What a way to suffer! More than when I was active! I hope that eases with time," Savon said during what Cuban officials called their "National Olympic Games," which ended over the weekend.

In Cuba, where boxing rivals baseball in popularity, Savon is one of the two giants of the sport, along with Teofilo Stevenson, another multiple champion.

He said he'd had many offers to turn professional -- a step that would have meant leaving Cuba. "I never would have traded the love and affection of my people for all the millions in the world," he said.

His two pupils include one of the few men to ever knock him out, Noel Perez, who beat Savon during a national tournament.

"Perez put me out of the fight because of my carelessness," he said. "I remember that my sons were present that day at the Sport City and my oldest son was traumatized. After that he said he never wanted to be a boxer, that he wanted to play baseball."

"I tell Perez to keep boxing with the determination he used to beat me once because that is the secret of his successes. In sports, you should never give up and even if Perez beat me once, he has the ability to keep improving."

Perez did not take part in the national festival, but Savon's other charge, Carlos Duartes, lost a decision in the 71-kilo (156-pound) final to World Cup winner Yohanson Martinez.

"Duartes is a young man with a good future. He's combative and isn't afraid of the punches, but he lacks technique and clarity at the moment of combat," Savon said after throwing punches in the air from ringside to show his young boxer what he should be doing.

"Savon is a very demanding trainer," Duartes said. "I have to be very disciplined, listen to his advice and, well, it's a big challenge for me because I think that I have to equal what he did."

 

Related information

Stories

Klitschko stops McCline with 10th-round TKO

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video