A Lyle KO isn't out of the question especially when looking at Tate's less than stellar chin.. But honestly, Ron's power gets overrated on here a lot.. Lyle never KO'd a ranked fighter with the possible exception of Shavers who may or may not have been ranked at the time and wasn't especially durable anyway.. Tate was a good boxer with decent height, reach, skill and power.. The KO loss to weaver was in the closing moments of a long 15 round fight that John was otherwise winning and may have had just as much to do with Tate getting complacent as anything Hercules crafted himself... Not sure which outcome I'd pick but I wouldn't put money down on either man.
If you're referring to JOHN TATE and Ron Lyle ... Lyle didn't have much left at all from the Stan Ward bout in 1977 and onward. If John Tate had faced Ron Lyle in 1978 or 1979, when Tate became a top 10 contender and the WBA champ, I'm fairly certain John Tate would've won. But it would've been fun to see.
Lyle would probably win, but it would be no picnic. Tate could really move and score well from the outside. I'm not sure Ron could catch him. But if I had to put money down I'd go with the more durable guy, which is Lyle.
my first thought was Lyle in a hard fought war. prime for prime I think he could take more punishment, plus he was solid at dishing it out.
Originally it was Lyle, not Weaver that was suppose to fight Tate. Lyle decided to take a tuneup fight vs Lynn Ball, who upset Lyle by KO. If that would have taken place Tate would beaten Lyle. But prime vs prime, who knows, but I would take Tate as he could box and move.