If Mike Weaver had an active title run, how long could he have ruled or how many defenses could he have had? Possibilities: Leon Spinks, Marvis Frazier, Leroy Jones, Renaldo Snipes, Scott LeDoux, Tex Cobb, Trevor Berbick, or a possible match with Gerry Cooney in '83.
weaver was an exciting fighter who on his night was a handful for anyone. I always looked forward to weaver fights but he already did and took things as far as he could. mike was beat fair and square by holmes which puts him and the entire WBA thing into perspective. Weaver got another chance against tate, all this proved was that he was still behind holmes. Then he beat coetzee who had been beaten by tate so still at this point he is still behind holmes. Then he lost to dokes who talented though dynamite dokes was didnt beat too many rated fighters himself and still wound up losing to coetzee who previously lost to weaver after losing to tate initialy. The whole WBA merry go round was self explanitory. rather than each champion losing to a beter guy they just lost to the previous guys chalenger... If you threw snipes, cobb, berbick and cooney into the mix, heck even neon leon himself there is every chance there would have just been a whole lot more WBA champions and zero chance of weaver or anyone else racking up a run as a champion.
Here is the story, bro.... March 1980 Weaver KO15 Tate (wins title) Oct 1980 Weaver KO13 Coetzee Oct 1981 Weaver KO5 Cooney (showdown-beatdown; GWH destroyed) Jan 1982 Weaver KO13 Tillis (Weaver in shape for this one) Apr 1982 Weaver KO9 Snipes Aug 1982 Weaver KO15 Cobb (Cobb floored three times in 15th) Jan 1983 Weaver KO6 Berbick (Berbick gets greased) June 1983 Weaver KO14 Coetzee (brutal rematch victory) Oct 1983 Weaver W15 Dokes (Don King's flunkies don't interefere) Feb 1984 Weaver W15 Page (Holmes won't fight Page, but W. does) June 1984 Weaver KO15 Holmes (unifies title) Oct 1984 Weaver W15 Holmes (wins rematch) Mar 1985 Weaver KO11 Bey (Bey of Pigs flopped over rope in 11th) Jun 1985 Weaver W15 Bonecrusher Smith (tough fight) Oct 1985 Weaver KO2 Truth Williams (wipeout) Apr 1986 Weaver KO10 Mike Spinks (breaks him like a twig) July 1986 Weaver KO12 Pink Thomas (tough fight) Feb 1987 Tyson KO2 Weaver (IRON MIKE HAS ARRIVED!) This content is protected
P.S. - Schoolgirls, you no doubt noticed that one year gap in HERCULES'S title reign between Oct 1980 and Oct 1981. That's because HERCULES was kept out of the ring by boxing politics. That's right, politics. HERCULES was torn between fighting Holmes to unify the title, or fighting GWH Cooney, or being on the sidelines while Holmes fought GWH Cooney. In the end, HERCULES gets the showdown wtih GWH Cooney. Cooney starts fast, pounding HERCULES on the ropes in the first two rounds with big left hooks to the body. But in round three, HERCULES lands some stiff jabs that wobble GWH's legs, thus turning the tide. In round four, HERCULES puts some rights behind his jabs, and GWH gets floored for an eight count near the end of the round. HERCULES closes the show by pounding GWH with rights and left hooks in the fifth, putting GWH down for a ten count.
Yes, Holmes did beat Weaver. But Weaver did have Holmes down & badly hurt. did he not? cause for concern for Holmes & King not to rematch Weaver?
I doubt Weaver could've made the run we're discussing here. I loved him, but he was flawed...a slow starter, poor responder when hurt, sluggish, and slow. He got gypped against Dokes, but even if he'd won, someone would've gotten to him soon. He was dangerous, though.
weaver had his moments after taking a beating initialy then holmes knocked him down and he was stopped. the early rounds were all holmes, then a generation later as old men (weaver looked fitter) they did have a rematch and holmes did it again. weaver gave a peak holmes a good fight, like frank bruno did against lenox lewis.
He may have had a couple of good defenses against the likes of Tex Cobb, or a Trevor Berbick, but a lot of those guys, especially Page, Snipes, Thomas, and Witherspoon, had the tools to beat him.IN an active scenario, he would probably make 3 to 4 sucessfull defenses.
There were negotiations for a Mike Weaver vs Gerry Cooney fight taking place in 1981, but apparently Bob Arum had talked the WBA into having Weaver fight James Tillis instead.. Had he met Cooney, I'm not sure that he would have retained his title. For as fragile as Cooney may seem to be, he was a very fast starter with a lot of power, and held a significant size advantage over Weaver.. Sure, if Mike made it into the 8th or 9th round, then it might be his fight to take, but somehow I can envision Cooney getting the job done early.. In any event, I dont see Weaver lasting long as a champion.. He was very tough and always in great shape, but was limited in other areas, and frankly i think he would have lost that belt somwhere down the line..
