I’ll reluctantly take Tate by decision. Of course his shaky chin leaves me with some hesitation but then again Marvis Frazier, Tony Tubbs and adilson Rodriguez didn’t have great chins either yet they went the distance with Smith to get decision wins.. James could certainly crack but he had poor finishing skills.. couldn’t always polish a guy off when he was hurt
Brutally finished off Bruno when he had him hurt in the 10th round and also KOed both Witherspoon and Weaver in one round so his finishing skills couldn’t have been that poor if he could do that to those three,
What Smith had was raw power and a large imposing body. Sometimes it bailed him out of trouble. But there were numerous instances where he had guys badly hurt, couldn’t finish them and ultimately either had to settle for a decision or lose altogether. As per your examples, I’ll give him the Frank Bruno fight as it was a good come from behind win where he battered his foe to submission.. Mike Weaver however was past his prime, much smaller in size and generally known for being a slow starter anyway. The Witherspoon debacle always reeked of a dive in my opinion...
