Mike Weaver

Anyone know what happened too, or where Mike (Hercules) Weaver is now? curious

 

Another fight worth checking out (if you can find it) is his first fight with Johnny Du Plooy in '87. Weaver started slowly but came back strongly to stop Du Plooy in 7.
Du Plooy quit on his stool and claimed injury, but Weaver had turned the tide by then anyway. It was one of my first attendances to an international fight and one of my treasured memories. (Yeah, I'm a big Weaver fan.)

 

And that doesn't mean anything at all.


If you look at Moorer, Patterson or Hide, you will see that it's all strong punchers that knocked them out. So does that mean they didn't have weak chins?


By the way, Holmes can certainly crack but i wouldn't categorise him as a strong puncher.

 

More to do with King than Kim...

 

Read somewhere he was working with the post office.Weaver was a damn good fighter who I could see beating a Page, Snipes, Witherspoon, or Tubbs on a given night, but I could see him losing to those guys also.

 

He's the last guy to be a heavyweight champ road warrior. The rest of the guys since sure like their homecooking. I can't see recent champs wearing those Weaver shoes for anytime more than once during that 79-83 timeframe.

1. Weaver took on the Don King fighter as a massive underdog in that Holmes fight. And just how many non-king fighters have come out with the W in those fights anyway?

2. Fights Ledoux in his backyard following that Holmes loss.

3. Fights undefeated and Arum's fighter--undefeated John Tate--in his backyard and comes out with the victory.

4. Takes on Coetzee in S.Africa--not the U.S.--and 1 punch ko's a guy never off his feet before.

5. Fights Tillis in Chicago where he'd been having all of his fights. And this was after not being able to get the Cooney fight.

6. Takes on Dokes in their first bout & is taking on another undefeated Don King fighter in a title bout.

7. Rematch with Dokes in yet another Don King bout.

Who else out there travels those shark infested waters? If any of the other guys around at the time wear those shoes, they aren't going 7-0 either. You do well to be a .500 fighter being the road warrior.

 

Weaver was a club fighter and I remember a war he had with Queens Bill Sharkey...I think he was shocked himself when he hurt Holmes quite a few times in a title shot, Weaver a 19-8 fighter was coming on when caught with a right uppercut but I think the fight could have went on. This fight gave Weaver the confidence to move on and evenyually win another version of the title but Holmes knew he improved and would not unify (even though the money would have been good, so I guess Holmes knew Weaver had improved with the title

 

Has anyone mentioned his fight with Pinklon Thomas yet?

 

Weaver is one of those fighters who began his career as a journeyman, then won a title and had a very good run as champion, then lost his title and slipped back into his previous journeyman status. But no one can deny that during his run as champion, he scored some very big wins and fought no soft touches.

Funny thing I always felt about Weaver, it seemed like his best performances came in fights that he lost (ie: Holmes, Thomas). In fights that he won (Tate, Coetzee), he looked sluggish for most of the fight, almost like he was sleepwalking through it, and then came on suddenly at the end to score a knockout. He looked much more energetic and motivated in fights like Holmes, but in those fights he ended up running into a big shot and getting KO'd.

 

Tillis was undefeated too then, wasn't he?

That means in a total of 6 title fights, his opponents' combined records only showed one loss out of the whole bunch (Coetzee).

 

Sadly, he was still fighting up until not too long ago.

 

Weaver broke my heart in this fight. I was seven years old, watching it on TV while my dad headed off to watch it live.

I was so upset by this loss that for years I could only watch the first eight rounds.

It's okay now though, since I became a big Weaver fan later on,...but it's still a bittersweet memory for me.

 

Seen weaver vs holmes as a small lad.

 

I guess my obvious answer would be the guy in my avatar. No, not Tua
Multiple title fights against King heavyweights, multiple title fights outside his home country.

I think that's why I've always liked Weaver. I just always found him an easy guy to root for. I came into boxing in '89 when he was past his best and already into his 'dangerous journeyman' phase, but both then and looking back at his previous fights since I do like the guy and his blue-collar work ethic.