MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina, March 17 -- Psssst. Pass this on to a certain inmate getting ready to pack his bags at the Indiana Youth Center: Felix Savon wants you. 'Yes, definitely,' the Cuban heavyweight said when asked if he would like to have a chance to fight Mike Tyson. 'It would be a great opportunity.' But before Don King gets his hair on end dreaming up ways to promote 'The Cuban and the Criminal,' there are a few small details to be worked out. First, Savon would have to take his place behind George Foreman, Riddick Bowe, Tony Tucker, Evander Holyfield, Bustin'-outta-his-clothes Douglas and a half-dozen other hopefuls lining up for a multimillion- dollar payday against the former champion when he's released from prison next week. And perhaps more importantly, Savon professes no interest in a multimillion-dollar payday. He's seems perfectly happy to be world champion at the amateur level. 'I don't want to be a professional and make money,' Savon said. 'I don't need to go that way. I have my physical-education degree. I prefer to stay the way I am.' That happens to be the most dominant heavyweight in the amateur ranks since countryman Teofilo Stevenson nearly two decades ago. And with a third Pan Am Games gold medal a virtual certainty, he finally can begin to move out of Stevenson's long shadow. Though Stevenson owns three Olympic gold medals to Savon's two, even Stevenson could not win three Pan Am crowns. 'Every day that goes by, I've been thinking about it,' said Savon, who begins his quest in the 91kg division on Sunday.
'This has forced me to be even more committed than I already am to my sport, so I can reach a peak level of performance. I want to allow people to continue believing in Felix Savon.' The Cuban people certainly do. He recently was named the island nation's top athlete, ahead of such other standouts as high jumper Javier Sotomayor, weightlifter Pablo Laras and third baseman Lourdes Gurriel of Cuba's powerful baseball team. Not bad for somebody who had to beg to get into Cuba's highly selective sports system. As a child, he competed in track and field and rowing in addition to boxing, but wasn't noticed by any of Cuba's sports authorities in charge of selecting athletes for specialized training. 'In Guantanamo they started a school for athletes, and I wanted to join in a very bad way,' Savon recalled. 'Three times I tried to get them to let me in and three times they refused because they had too many students already. 'Finally I begged my syster to speak to one of the trainers there. She talked to the trainer, and he came and got me and put me in boxing. I was 13 at the time.' Six years later, Savon first burst onto the world stage with his gold medal at the 1987 Pan Am Games in Indianapolis. Now he's owner of three world titles and Olympic gold medals from Seoul (1988) and Barcelona (1992). He's also 27, and finds training to be more difficult than he did as a youth. 'As time goes by, it does get a bit harder to leave bed at 5:30 in the morning, especially when it is nice an warm and my wife's in it,' he said. But he quickly adds that the training is more important than ever now -- not only because he must stay in shape to take on a generation of up- and-coming heavyweights, but because the caliber of boxer is better today than it was when Stevenson was fighting. 'Twenty years ago, the very good boxers were a bit more physical,' he said. 'Now as time goes on, the sport has become more sophisticated. 'There's a lot more fighters now with better technique than before. In order to beat them, you must prepare yourself. Someone that's been preparing 20 years to win like myself can be defeated by a young fighter that comes along that has great technique.' Even though bouts in amateur boxing are limited to three rounds, Savon didn't believe he would have any trouble adjusting to the longer fights seen in the professional ranks. 'We train sometimes 8, 10, 12 rounds at a time,' he said. 'And the basic techniques and skills are the same. I have no doubts that I could be a professional.' But he won't. As a product of the Cuban system, he's thankful for all the opportunities that have been opened to him. And for that, Mike Tyson has one less obstacle standing in his way when those prison doors swing open.
