Mike Weaver

Don't you mean Joey Curtis?

Good question. As we know, Dokes was expending early energy when a skittish Joey Curtis prematurely robbed Weaver of the title. With the late round stamina Hercules showed against Tate, Coetzee and Tillis, he probably would have rallied to stop Dokes late. Weaver could well have held onto the title until 1985, when Thomas actually did stop him, defending the title once or twice a year.

Weaver generated tremendous resistance against Coetzee as a defending champion. (Gerrie: "I think the title held him up.") Given a laissez faire referee like Harry Gibbs, it would have been extremely difficult to pry the title from Mike's grasp, especially since he didn't take any challengers lightly.

 

Weaver did show great stamina & taking Dokes into the late rounds. Although he didn't get the TKO. Weaver DID deserve the decision in that rematch. Horrible Decision!

 

It was a complete sham, but at least it totally repudiated the earlier misjudgment of Joey Curtis. As far as I'm concerned, Dokes and Coetzee had no business claiming the WBA title in the first place. Weaver was far and away the best of the WBA champions during the reign of Holmes, and provided the greatest opportunity for the WBA to gain serious consideration as more than a meaningless paper title. (Also, Dokes was a King fighter and friend of Holmes. Once Curtis robbed Weaver of his title, there was no chance of a formal unification bout taking place.)

 

He might've held onto it another year or so, but it wasn't long afterward before his age and limitations started catching up with him. If he ran into Pinklon at some point - well, we saw how that ended.

 

Nice to see somebody else feels this way - I was around in those days, saw the Weaver-Dokes fights when they happened, and like you I have always thought it was a profound injustice that was pulled against Weaver who was indeed the second best HW of the Holmes era, imo.

I don't think it's a coincidence that these shenanigans occurred and a Don King fighter got the title either.

 

"Dokes-Weaver 1" sucks ****, thanks to dickhead Joey Curtis.... But part # 2 KICKS ASS! Part # 2 is underrated and often over-looked in terms of good heavyweight title fights.......

MR.BILL

 

Where is Mike "Hercules" Weaver now? His was built like Hercules!

 

That was a good fight. The Weaver-Coetsea fight and the Weaver-Dokes 2 fights are both in my top 10 heavy title fights in my lifespan:rasta

 

The fight the world missed out on due to King and it would have been one of the greatest ever methinks is Weaver-Cobb in 1982. The were scheduled 2x in summer-fall of that year and first one and then the other got injured. Then Don King went to court and stopped it so his pride and coked out joy, Michael "Featherfist" Dokes could fight Weaver next. Bad move by King to rob the fans of a sensational SLUGFEST. :rasta

 

I spoke to Mike Weaver only yesterday, he works part time for the Postal service now and is always up for a chat about his career.. He runs female aerobics boxersize classes in California and is in amazing shape for his years.. I always laugh out loud when he tells me about that fight.. Joey was paid, and the whole thing was a sham... Dokes , dropped Mike early and it was legit, he often got caught quick, and was trying to hold on and recover.. Joey was given orders to call a halt at any possible given opportunity, Weaver knew it and Dokes knew it too, everyone had the chance to come back to the Dunes for a re run and make more cash later... Mike redeemed himself but was ass****ed by the judging in that rematch.... Dokes went to jail in 1997.. Curtis is an alcaholic... Don lost credibility for a long time after the shameful bull**** and it is Mike who has a last laugh now as a lovely healthy drug free , alcahol free man of God with no hangups about his career after all (Karma) Mike did run into Pinklon and was knocked out in the 6th i think, its a funny story , Mike and Pinklon are related.. it devided the whole family in two, and ringside for that bout was mayhem.. like two brothers fighting for a world heavyweight title.. I think Pinklon married Mikes sister or something like that... Mike tells the story better , only in boxing... God bless....

 

Not long enough, unfortunately.

 

Larry Holme's refusal to grant Weaver a much warranted rematch was a testament as to how dangerous and formidable Mike was. A miracle uppercut was Holme's salvation in their match...a match that saw Hercules give Larry all he could handle. Yes, he was the best heavyweight around aside from Holmes in that day.

 

I think "Weaver-Cobb" in '82 would've been wicked for sure.... A toss-up in '82......

"Weaver-Dokes 2" of '83 was damn good stuff........ The draw was kool with me.......

Weaver said he had no legs in '85 for Thomas...... Weaver had some moments, and the fight was sorta' sloppy, but Thomas cracked home a right cross down the middle in round 8 to park Weaver like a Cadillac......

1986 was up and down for Weaver...... He KO's Carl Williams then gets smoked by Bones Smith... After that he dropped a decision to a green Ruddock........

I lost track of Weaver after he KO'd unheralded James Pritchard in 1987......

His '90 decision loss to Bones Smith was horrid.........

MR.BILL

 

Interesting info, I wonder if Mike wanted a fight with Tim Witherspoon.