Documented path
Stevenson began boxing at age 9 under former national light heavyweight champion John Herrera at a makeshift open-air gym in Puerto Padre, Cuba. He won a junior title and was brought into Cuba's state sports system, making his international debut at the 1971 Pan American Games and winning Olympic gold in 1972.
Born in Puerto Padre, Cuba to a modest working-class family; father was an immigrant from Saint Vincent who gave English lessons and had brief boxing experience, mother was of Caribbean immigrant descent.
Died June 11, 2012 in Havana at age 60; remembered as one of the greatest amateur boxers in history with three Olympic gold medals and three world amateur championships.
Where the conditions came from
Each is placed on a −1 to 3 scale from documented evidence, and the three are never added together. A combined total would rank Teófilo Stevenson against other people. Held apart, they explain why this path ran differently from another one—which is the only comparison this project supports.
The marble itself
+2Tailwind
What capability, drive, or early skill is documented in the person rather than their surroundings?
Exceptional size (6'5") and power evident early; Olympic gold at 20, with coach Herrera recognizing he 'had what it takes' from his first bout, showing significant natural boxing aptitude.
Where it was dropped
0Neither way
What money, family standing, network, or permission was already in place before the work began?
Modest working-class family in Puerto Padre, Cuba; father had brief boxing experience (seven fights) and encouraged Teófilo's interest, but no wealth or significant domain reputation.
The shape of the track
+2Tailwind
What place, timing, institution, or peer group made the next step available?
Cuba's post-revolutionary state sports system identified and developed boxing talent through state academies; trained from age 9 under former national champion John Herrera, then accelerated through the Cuban system to international competition by 19.
A −1 is a documented headwind, not a missing value; a 0 means the sources record nothing notable either way. Annotation confidence: High. These are analyst readings of what the sources record, not measurements of merit, talent, or effort. The twenty-two scored dimensions remain available inside the deeper research detail.
What moved through the conditions
This records repeated behaviour or recovery described by sources; it is not a grit or merit score.
A successful-only archive cannot recover all encounters, avoided setbacks, or alternative outcomes.
Strongest documented signals: Elite institution pipeline, Dedicated mentor / coach, Direct domain exposure.
Describes the starting position, not what the person later made of it.
Strongest observed levers: Domain proximity, Started serious reps before 20, Prior reps.
Measures what was present, not whether it was inherited, earned, self-built, external, or mixed.
The timeline below shows the sequence of work and transitions around the selected early milestone. It is evidence of a path, not proof that every step was necessary.
Legendary or globally iconic career standing. The tier summarizes documented career recognition through the data cutoff—not Teófilo Stevenson's worth or future potential.
Question four · where did the leverage come from?
Each non-zero lever gets a best-supported origin, evidence signals, and confidence. Unresolved is the honest default when the biography cannot distinguish self-built, advantage-enabled, earned, external, or mixed.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
A structural wave is external to the person, even when their position improved access to it.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
This is a bounded inference from the current annotations—not a claim about private effort, merit, or the percentage of Teófilo Stevenson's outcome attributable to any origin.
Structural luck, Encounter luck, Event luck, Outcome variance can change every arrow in the path. This successful-only dataset cannot observe the near-identical paths that did not break through, so luck stays visible and unscored.
Multiplying capacity documented later in the path. Measures what was present, not whether it was inherited, earned, self-built, external, or mixed.
Access or conditions documented near the beginning of the path. Zero means "no clear evidence in reviewed sources," not "advantage was absent."
Born in Puerto Padre, Cuba to Teófilo Stevenson Patterson, an immigrant from Saint Vincent who gave English lessons and boxed seven fights, and Dolores Lawrence, a native Cuban whose parents immigrated from Saint Kitts. Modest working-class family.
Father had brief boxing experience (seven fights) and encouraged Teófilo's interest in the sport, though he was not a professional boxer. Father accompanied him to early fights.
Stevenson's path was shaped by Cuba's post-revolutionary state sports system, which identified and developed boxing talent through state academies. His father's brief boxing experience provided initial familiarity with the sport. Crucially, former national light heavyweight champion John Herrera trained him from age 9 at a local gym. Stevenson's exceptional size (6'3") and power were evident early, and the Cuban system accelerated him to international competition by age 19 and Olympic gold by 20.
advantage confidence: High · source count: 4 · audit: partial_source_verification · status: subagent_researched_beta