Cuba paid its respects on Tuesday to the late boxer Teofilo Stevenson, one of the greatest Olympians of all time who turned down the chance to fight Muhammad Ali at the height of both fighters powers.

Stevenson, who won three gold medals as a heavyweight boxer and turned down multi-million dollar offers to turn professional after emerging as a huge talent at the 1972 Munich Games, died of a heart attack on Monday at the age of 60.

Stevenson, born into a poor family in Puerto Padre in the eastern province of Las Tunas, won gold medals at the Munich Games in 1972, Montreal in 1976 and Moscow in 1980.