Tony Tucker vs John Tate

This.

 

Hell, I can't believe all the people who picked Tate. It's absurd. Tucker beat several good fighters, Tate never beat a great fighter, and never really had a great night. Both were good boxers, the difference is one was in great shape. The outcome is obvious.

 

What great fighters did Tucker beat?

Are you saying Tate was never in great shape? He beat Coetzee over 15 and was well ahead of Weaver before catching a bomb in the last minute of the fight.

Tate was extremely highly regarded at one point and people were eagerly anticipating a unification against Holmes. Plenty liked Tate's chances at the time.

He was one of these guys that never came back from a stoppage loss. No doubt he wasn't as good as some figured but he was fighting at a really decent level for a while.

Open match for sure.

 

I pick Tate by decision. Tucker has all the tools, but never rose to the occasion. Tucker never beat a great fighter either. Tate beat a very good Gerrie Coetzee in a hostile environment. Tate also beat Bernardo Mercardo, Kallie Knoetze, who pretty up match up with anyone Tucker beat, with the exception of Buster Douglas, who decided to quit while winning vs Tucker.

 

I never actually said that Tucker beat any great fighters, good fighters. Jimmy Young, Buster Douglas, Orlin Norris, Oliver McCall all qualify as good. Not to mention Tucker gave Tyson and Lewis tough fights.

I know Tate was widely regarded, and he was very high-energy although I still maintain he was never in spectacular shape. I do realize that he beat several highly regarded fighters in the late 70s, like the ones you mentioned, as well as Bobick and Bourdreaux. But those guys are not on the level of Tucker's best wins imo, except Coetzee. I was never really that impressed w/ the Tate-Coetzee fight, other than the fact that Tate went 15.

Also, you bring up that Tate never recovered from his two knockout losses. Tucker fought on after his losses, and the results btwn the Tyson and Lewis losses were pretty good.

 

Young was coming off 4 losses in a row around an age of 36. Douglas was a decent win but it wasn't the Douglas who wouldn't take no for an answer against Tyson. Douglas did fight well and was even'ish on the cards but run out of sting, as much mentally as anything IMO. Are you aware the Norris win was extremely controversial and most thought Norris won? Having said that Norris wasn't even rate by Ring and had been stopped by Bert Cooper the previous year. McCall is just a reasonable win and had been beaten previously by Norris and Douglas. Lewis dropped Tucker twice and won comfortably and Tucker was quite defensive against Tyson and disappointed some people with his effort. Many believe he fought more for survival than victory as the fight went on.

So it's not exactly sterling. Decent but nothing special.

I don't think Tate was ever going to come in with the full 6 pack, unless it was Budweiser. He did come into fights in good shape however and i certainly wouldn't class him with some of the other 80's underachievers that were all over the place with their weight and conditioning.

I don't overly rate the Tucker wins you mentioned. Decent but far from head turning. Tate is a bit thin on the ground as well. Coetzee, Knoetze, Bobick and Mercado are a reasonable bunch.

Yes but that has zero to do with how a matchup would go unless you are putting diminished version of Tate forward.

Remember Tate was knocked out where as Tucker wasn't. Tucker plodded along OK between Tyson and Lewis but have a look at some of those names.

There probably wouldn't be much between these two. Tate might well be able to outbox him and Tucker doesn't have a huge punch. I wouldn't scoff at either being picked in this one.

Your actual comments were extremely strong and certain which i think doesn't come close to fitting a match up such as this one.

You said -

Hell, I can't believe all the people who picked Tate. It's absurd. Tucker beat several good fighters, Tate never beat a great fighter, and never really had a great night. Both were good boxers, the difference is one was in great shape. The outcome is obvious.

 

I have slaughtered Tate many times before...but I think he is slightly better than Tucker because he could win a big fight.

Tate beat Coetzee in a huge outdoor event. He stepped up.

Tucker is a Joe Bugner kind of guy. Sure he beat Douglas. Nobody else. Fights with McCall and Norris could have went either way. The Douglas v Tucker bout should have been for the vacant USBA title not the vacant IBF title. Nobody knew who they were then.

But Tate is a guy Tucker should be getting compared to.

 

Big John pre-Weaver KO was a much better fighter than Tony ever was.

He wins a fairly wide UD in this fight and closes strong to make it emphatic.

Tony was a guy who was carefully built and moved — you look at his first 35 or so fights and there’s not any substance there. In fact, apart from a disinterested Buster Douglas who was pretty much even with Tony before the end and you can only define Tucker by his losses. There’s not a lot of ‘there’ there.

 

Actually, I mostly agree w/ you. I don't think Tucker's record is esp. glamorous, but I still think he was a level above Tate both in record and in skill level.

 

We might have to disagree on this one particularly him being up a level in skill.

 

I suppose we will John.

 

Berbick and Weaver knocked out the prime Tate.Tucker was far better than Weaver or Berbick.Considering this
an objective boxing fan can't choice Tate.

 

Tucker wasn't "far better" than Weaver or Berbick. Not a chance.

 

Tate UD Tucker so overrated at this point. Did he have talent sure but did he use it to his advantage. Rarely therefore I dont rate him nearly as high as others

 

Berbick did not knock out a prime Tate, he was already damaged goods by then. Weaver knocked out a prime Tate after trailing for 14 1/2 rounds. Call it what you will. Lucky punch, desperation punch, a hail Mary, whatever. He was very fortunate to land that shot and Tate was on shaky pins every fight thereafter. I have no reservation in picking prime Tate over Tucker after 15 rounds.