Tate was winning big. up to the time of the stoppage it was a pretty impressive comeback. The commentaters were even starting to talk about what's next for the former Champ. Tate had nice boxing skills for a man that large. A shame, The Weaver knockout was clean, but this one Berbick hit Tate as he was staggering away in the back or side of the head & Tate just collasped. I tried to keep up with him in later years, but he never recovered from these two losses. Fought a couple of small bouts, but that's it...
Agreed, It was shameful that Tate never recovered from those defeats. What's worse, I've always felt that they were both somewhat flukish, given how handedly John was leading in them. Unfortunately, John Tate was a waste of real talent.
In the Berbick fight, Tate gassed early and Berbick showed stamina that a man that size isn't supposed to have. Tate more or less resigned himself to losing, and lost in a very embarassing fashion (it's on youtube). From that moment on, he was completely discredited as a boxer; I think it was this fight which was the root of the way Tate is forgotten today.
There are some who believe that Tate lost hist will to be a champion after the Weaver upset. I don't know enough ebout John Tate to say if this claim is valid or not however. I have read on various internet articles, that following the Berbick loss, Tate led a life of trouble. He was apparently arrested and did time in prison for armed robbery, and a number of other offenses. between 1981 and 1988, he fought sporatically in between jail sentences. I guess he threw together, 13 or 14 low profile wins before ending his career in a loss to Noel Quarless. 10 years later, he would die in a pick-up truck accident, in which he was the driver.
While he was champion, Tate could be argued to be more legitimate than Holmes. He had, after all, inherited Ali's title. The WBA's credibility went out of the window of course once Weaver won the title, because of Holmes's stoppage win over Weaver. In the end, Tate's loss affected the WBA in the same way it affected him.
Trevor had great stamina for a muscular heavyweight......... Tate was sadly addicted to bad luck........ he never did anything to convince me that he was destined to be a content champion or even a content person.. Its a damn shame , His life was always on the down slide.. I liked him, but he did not strive to become great, His Championship win was a lovely thing to see, he looked so overjoyed, something that was very rare for John..
Tate may have had either a slight lead, or it was about even, Berbick was coming on strong at the time of the stoppage.Sad that a potential great career was ruined like that.
Tate was leading, but even though he was beating Berbick, he was laboring and not looking like his prime self. As other have suggested, Tate had lost a step after the heartbreaking loss to the death-defying Mike Weaver. I really dislike just about every fighter from the druggy 80s blobs and slobs era, except for Tate and Pinklon Thomas. Those two stood out for me as the best of the guys behind Holmes. Tate was better conditioned than his losses to Weaver and Berbick suggest. He was also a boxing scholar with a real commitment to honing his art. He had great accuracy, excellent combination punching, power in both hands, and of course size to his credit. Its a real shame he didn't last that last minute with Weaver, because I believe Tate clearly would have given Holmes his toughet fight. That would have been the defining fight for Holmes.