John Tate

I thought he looked sharp and had a lot of good fundamentals. He was big dude who carried 235 lbs very well and was athletic. His wins over Bobick, Knoetzee nad Coetzee were good performances. Had he not gone to sleep in the last round of the Weaver fight he would have had that in the bag.

 

I liked Tate a lot. He didn't benefit from great management I feel though and the Weaver loss seemed to really mess with his head.
I'm not sure he psychologically had fully recovred from that loss before fighting Berbick who I felt was an inferior fighter.

I do agree that Tate had the right stuff to compete with other leading heavies of the 80's.

 

Although having plenty of skill and being quite athletic for a big man, Big John Tate lacked the durability that he needed to be one of the best heavyweights of his day.

- Chuck Johnston

 

He took on Berbick too soon after the Weaver loss, but as Chuck pointed out, his lack of durability was going to catch up to him at some point anyway.

 

John Tate was one of those big skilled guys along with Carl Williams and some others from late 70's - mid 80s.

When I watched Tate or C. Williams fights and compared them to today's HWs, I have always wondered how much more skilled were these 80's guys than most of today's top-contenders.

 

Good point. What kind of idiot takes a fighter who just went 15 tough rounds, getting viciously KOed in the last round and puts him back in the ring 3 months later against an up and coming prospect?

Answer: Ace Miller

 

The Weaver fight ruined him just as the Marciano fight ruined Layne but I think with Tate it was worse, he was ahead vs Weaver but the 15ths rd WOW, these days he would only be fighting 12...Tate looked good as champ just took Weaver on at the wrong time, had it been the Weaver of the Holmes fight, Tate may have won

 

Tate was a very good fighter, but at some point, he was going to run into Dokes and Page, and lose anyway.

 

This is what I alluded to earlier. I mean, screw a confidence building fight or two first eh?
Sure Tate had durability issues but still. With better management he could have been a force in the division for years beyond what he was.
One of the few truly big men who had actual boxing skills.

 

Where I differ on this subject from others is I think too much was made this point in Tate's career. I believe he was far more durable than others feel. Remember, big sluggers like Coetzee, Knoetzee, Bobick, Mercado and Weaver for 14 1/2 rounds couldn't put a dent in him. Tate suffered a one punch knockout that effected him cerebrally. It has happened many times in the sport where an outstanding jaw suffered a one punch KO and was never the same again. Kid Berg against Canzoneri in the 3rd round. O'Grady against Ganigan in the 2nd round. Cuevas against Hearns, Curry against McCallum. Bramble against Rosario. These guys had great jaws and after that one bad KO just weren't the same fighters anymore. I'm not saying Tate had a Marciano-like jaw, but he was durable but he was damaged goods after the Weaver one-punch in the 15th. And just to go on record, I truly believed Tate was going to give Holmes a run for his money back in the day.

 

Nice Post. Sean O'Grady actually wrote an article for one of the boxing magazines titled "All of a sudden I couldn't take a punch", after the Ganigan and Verderosa losses.

 

In fairness Weaver and Berbick could both crack and were fortunate to hit him in the right place at the right time. Especially in Weaver's case when he landed on big John at the tail end of a 15 round fight when both men were exhausted. That's a good time for a guy to get hurt. The Berbick fight happened just three months after Tate had been carried out of the arena on a stretcher.. Probably should have taken a bit more time to recover, then came back and fought a trial horse to get his confidence back, but of course everything is always 20/20 in hindsight. And facing a fringe contender on the under card of Leonard vs Hearns was probably too big of an offer to turn away. Tate's career was on the line and he needed to do whatever he could to repair his chances of landing in the ring with Holmes or even getting a rematch for the WBA.. He seemed to have gotten a little bit of a groove back from 1981-1983 when he put together a 10 fight winning streak. Most of those bouts were against lack luster opposition though, but at least he was keeping busy.. Then I guess he went to Jail and that was pretty much the end of boxing for him.

 

If they had fought, Tate probably would give Holmes fight of life.