It looks that way in retrospect But Berbick was fairly unknown at the time with no name wins and had fought to a Draw with journeyman Leroy Caldwell and was brutalized in one round br Bernardo Mercado in 1979. He was clearly seen as a step down from the competition Tate had been facing.
After being stopped by Matthew Saad Muhammad Vonzell Johnson faced Michael Spinks in his very next fight. But one could argue he was just cashing out. And in fact he did retire after the Spinks fight.
Another one in the same vein as cashing out was Abe Simon. He gets beat up by Joe Louis in 13 rounds, then wins two and draws in another before, figuratively speaking, he gets the crap beaten out of him by Lem Franklin in 5 rounds. But instead of taking on Franklin, Louis wants Simon again. Simon's brain-trust must've been screaming, "It's my birthday! It's my birthday!" Louis performs the inevitable in 6 rounds this time.
One factor not mentioned. A bad ko loss affects fighters differently . Jones and Tate may have been ruined by their losses to Tarver and Weaver respectively. Their opponents in their next fights Glenn Johnson and Trevor Berbick were not seen as world beaters. They made their names by beating these guys. At the same time after Roger Mayweather was starched in two rounds by JC Chavez he faced the WBC #1 130 lb. contender Mario Martinez in his very next fight- and won. He did it in Martinez's backyard the Olympic Auditorium no less. Mayweather was simply not ruined by the loss to Chavez. If he had been stopped by Martinez the naysayers would have said what a moron his manager was
What it comes down to is professionalism. A pro fighter has long past got past the fear of getting his ass kicked. He knows a few things. First, everyone makes mistakes and you can learn from them and get better. Second, sometimes it just isn't your day. Sometimes it is the other guy's day. It doesn't mean tomorrow will be the same. I think that the 'trauma' of being knocked out was a lot less when, first, you had another fight scheduled in two weeks and you had to fight to earn and, second, when you were allowed to learn on the job and a loss wasn't career ending.
at first i thought Glrn Johnson for RJJ , but the more i think about that wasnt necessarily a bad choice, it's more that RJ already had his soul taken by Tarver....i think any top 5 guy would have KOd him that night
Klitschko's Williamson after Brewster was almost a disaster .. Williamson was a murderous puncher, had Klitschko seriously hurt till the fight ended in a funny way .. it could have been the end of Klitschko.
Throwing Pele Reid in with the world class Orlin Norris after his loss to Julius Francis. Another (in hindsight) mistake was when Michael Grant came back after the Lennox Lewis disaster and they chose Jameel McCline.
Whoever managed Ted Gullick put him in with George Foreman 2 months after getting starched by Earnie Shavers. Insane matchmaking right there.
Jeff Fenech got iced by Calvin Grove the very next fight after Nelson battered him. Actually that was probably judicious matchmaking considering Grove wasn’t a puncher but Fenech was ruined by the Nelson loss. Only RJJ declined as significantly chin wise as quickly from memory.
I would also say Pipino Cuevas, Livingstone Bramble and Sean O'Grady. All rock chins up until meeting that severe KO. From there it was downhill for them.