Kovalev also... But he probably always packed a lot of glass in his chin considering how badly he was KTFOed by Abbos Atoev in the amateurs
Disagree. Tate came back only 3 months after going (almost) tough rounds vs Weaver and being brutally knocked senseless. Idiot management by Ace Miller. Tate's comeback fight should have been a corpse.
It wouldn’t have been acceptable to have him fight a guy who was 5-13, so he fought a guy who was coming off a hometown split decision over a guy who was 5-13. Did he come back too soon? Yes. Was Trevor predictably a guy who he should have avoided? No, not based on Berbick’s resume. Not only had he never beaten anyone, he was KO’d in one the only time he stepped up, he had a draw with a .500-ish trial horse and a bad split decision over a guy with a horrible record — and those were all recent results going into the Tate fight. Not one person at the time would have said ‘oooh, he’s biting off more than he can chew here.’ They might well have reasonable said, ‘he needs to wait a few months before coming back,’ but the opponent wasn’t a guy who anyone would have though to avoid.
To tell you the truth - and I'm saying this as someone who was very impressed with John Tate back in the day, who believed Tate was going to give Holmes a real run for his money - after the 15th round of the Weaver fight, Tate was damaged goods. It wouldn't have mattered who they put him up against. He would've beat the clubfighters but any step up would've been the same result. It happens. A severe KO does something to the old cerebellum and they are just not the same. Cuevas against Hearns, Bramble against Rosario, O'Grady against Ganigan, Curry against McCallum and Tate against Weaver. They just lost that something and put them on shaky pins the rest of their career.
Well said .. it is fascinating stuff the say some men come back and some don't .. Tate was done. The way he went down against Berbick was terrible to watch .. How about Jones fighting Johnson after Tarver ?
Junior Jones fighting a young undefeated Erik Morales after getting stopped by Kennedy McKinney in 4 rounds. Jorge Linares fighting a hard puncher Sergio Thompson right after getting stopped by Antonio DeMarco.