John Tate vs. Mike Weaver
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| Date | March 31, 1980 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Stokely Athletic Center, Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | WBA heavyweight title | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weaver wins via 15th-round knockout | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
John Tate vs. Mike Weaver, billed as the Battle of Ole Smokey, was a professional match contested on March 31, 1980, for the WBA heavyweight title.[1]
Promoter Bob Arum announced in late January 1980, that newly crowned WBA heavyweight champion John Tate would make his first title defense against Mike Weaver later in the year on March 31. Originally set to take place in the Las Vegas Valley, Arum changed the venue, at Tate's request, to the Stokely Athletic Center in Tate's hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee in what would be Tennessee's first ever heavyweight title fight.[2] The Tate–Weaver fight was part of a four-fight, three-venue telecast aired by NBC that also featured WBA light heavyweight champion Marvin Johnson defending his title against Eddie Gregory, also from Knoxville, recently-crowned WBC welterweight champion Sugar Ray Leonard making his first title defense against Dave Boy Green in his native Maryland, and a WBC heavyweight title match between champion Larry Holmes and challenger Leroy Jones in Nevada.[3]
Weaver, a 2–1 underdog, was looked upon as a steppingstone for Tate, who was expected to face the returning former three-time heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali after his expected win over Weaver.[4] Tentatively scheduled for June 27, 1980, Tate and Ali had agreed to face each other in Taiwan, with the two fighters splitting a then-unheard of purse of $14 million.[5] Tate, however, when asked about his potential fight with Ali, refused to look past Weaver, stating "Until I can defeat Mike Weaver, I ain’t gonna think about no Ali. If I don’t beat him, it’ll be Mike Weaver fighting him. So, until I can beat Mike Weaver, I won’t even attempt to think about fighting Ali or anyone else as far as that goes."[6]
Fight details
Tate controlled the majority of the fight and built up a sizeable lead going into the later rounds. However, with Tate tiring by the 12th-round, Weaver caught Tate with a massive left hook just past the one-minute mark that staggered the champion, who in turn frequently clinched and back peddled away from Weaver in order to survive the round. From then on, Weaver was aggressor of the fight as Tate, having built up a big enough lead on the scorecards, tried to avoid getting in exchanges with his powerful challenger, though Weaver still was able to connect with power punches to Tate's head and body. Finally, in the 15th-round, with Tate needing only to survive another 45 seconds to earn a unanimous decision victory, Weaver, having backed Tate into a corner, connected flush with a left hook to Tate's head. The blow knocked Tate unconscious, who fell face first to the canvas and was counted out by referee Ernesto Magana. Weaver had scored a last minute knockout victory at 2:15 of the 15th round.[7]
