I don't think Weaver ruined Tate. I think bad luck and match making pretty much ruined him. If I'm not mistaken he was beating Trevor pretty easily until the latter rounds.
Tate wasn’t 34-35 years old. Tate didn’t have 50+ fights of mileage Tate wasn’t a weight jumper I don’t see the congruency in this comparison
Tarver probably takes this, he was an awkward night work for most his prime DM was a very good fighter, I just think Tarver is problematic for DM in this fight. Probably via points. On the Jones v Tarver thing discussed above, that was not the prime Jones that fought Tarver that weight cut and age was starting to catch up with him, to be honest I saw him fighting Woods a few fight prior and although impressive against an unambitious Woods, I didn’t think he was peak Jones then. Tarver may have always been a stylistic problem for Jones, but let’s not blow this out of proportion and say that was prime Jones in their it wasn’t.
So only one stoppage in 50 pro fights in the last bout of his career after 16 months of inactivity + a DQ win where he was knocked out by an illegal punch = weak chin ? Lol ok
So was John Tate. Second to Holmes at heavyweight. The real difference was the stage of their careers and the specific details of each. But why bother looking below the surface right ? A result is a result.
Figured that was going to be your response. So let’s ask this: Do you honestly think Jones was at his pinnacle when Tarver fought him ?
His form in the second Tarver fight was the same as for Clinton Woods or a few fights earlier. He showed against Harding and Del Valle that he would have problems with Tarver. People pretend that he had lost his legs. He got starched in the second round before that was even close to being an issue.
I watched all of Michalczewski's career a few years back. He did have a good chin. Something like a 7/10, if I were to place a numeric value on it. It was above average but dentable. Rocchigiani was well on his way to stopping Dariusz in their first bout but Michalczewski played up a foul that didn't seem serious. Roberto Dominguez Perez, who was a good puncher, dropped Michalczewski in the first round of their fight and hurt him badly in the second. To the Polish man's credit, he showed very good recuperative powers. I do think Tarver vs. Michalczewski would have been an interesting bout, though. Michalczewski was the Euro style archetype, constantly working behind a high-guard and straight punches. He had good technique, was tough, active compared to others of that style, and actually proved himself against his class' best (Hill). He even showed glimpses of stylistic fluidity by moving his head off center from time to time. Given that, I think he falls short in a bout against Tarver. Tarver, to me, had the size, skill, and style to pull out a close decision. Michalczewski's lackluster performances against a lesser southpaw in Richard Hall play on my mind here.
Meh I don’t think that citing a couple rough performances earlier bolsters the idea that he was prime or that he was tailer made for Tarver. In a fifty fight career most of which spent fighting top challengers your bound to have some rough spots. And Del Valle was a sparring partner for Jones so he knew his style and timing pretty well anyway. I think Jones was heading down hill. Even if he were still in good form he wasn’t prime. There’s a difference
This is one of those things where a great fighter loses badly and gets an undeserved pass for not being at their absolute peak. He was top 2 in boxing for the second Tarver fight. The only standout example was Manny against Floyd, both the younger man in the ring and top 2 in the sport. Like I said, Tarver was Jones' toughest opponent since Hopkins.
