Greatest in the clutch???

The best quote from that fight was of course a Manny Steward quote, but I think it was, "HE BETTER DO A JULIO CESAR AND RUN ACROSS THE RING RIGHT AWAY!!!" That had me rollin... It was also funny when he was all, "look at this...look at this. he got him with the left hook...and there it is again...and again..."

TATE-WEAVER WAS 1979. ALSO... YOU SAY: I second the pick of Toney dropping Jirov with less than 30 seconds left in the fight. Emmanuel Steward was going crazy: "Jirov is hurt! Jirov is hurt! Oh my God!" ICE SAYS: I was at the fight, sitting three rows from the ring at eye level, sitting with Chris Byrd and his wife. In the 12th when JT dropped Jirov I was standing on the chair, punching Chris in the arm, yelling "he's gonna stop him!!!!" LOL That fight was incredible. How any fight that year was better is beyond me. I'm not sure which it was, but I really can't imagine any fight being better than Toney-Jirov was. Looking it up, it seems that honor went to Gatti-Ward III, which was in no way near the level of Toney-Jirov. I'd much rather watch the two TOP guys in their division go at it like Toney and Jirov did, than two guys like Gatti and Ward (much respect to both of those guys, but in terms of skill, they're not in the same fucking game as Toney and Jirov, and by that I mean the progression of ballpark, to league, to game).

TATE-WEAVER WAS 1979. ALSO... YOU SAY: I second the pick of Toney dropping Jirov with less than 30 seconds left in the fight. Emmanuel Steward was going crazy: "Jirov is hurt! Jirov is hurt! Oh my God!" ICE SAYS: I was at the fight, sitting three rows from the ring at eye level, sitting with Chris Byrd and his wife. In the 12th when JT dropped Jirov I was standing on the chair, punching Chris in the arm, yelling "he's gonna stop him!!!!" LOL

JAY..picture this... 15 round fight.. Weaver is getting outboxed for 14 and a half rounds.... fight is only seconds from being over.. Tate will win and likely fight Larry Holmes afterwards.. people have turned the TV off.. allof a suden with like 15 seconds to go Weaver lands a BOMB and tate is out on impact, out as he falls like a tree to the floor. Hollywood couldn't do any better. Jesus..... what year was this John? I'm hoping I can find some footage of that. Oh yeah, and when is that book of yours coming out? :)

i always feel so bad for big john.. i have an article about him right after he died. It says kids would come up to him and fall on the ground to make fun of him after this fight.. Yeah, Tate went through quite the rough patch after the loss to Weaver. Apparently he hit the bottle pretty heavily afterwards and it has been said that he became quite addicted to drugs, as well... The big guy never seemed to have it easy it seems, especially having to win the WBA title in such harsh conditions in South Africa in front of 80,000+ who believed so strongly in their country's political outlook of white supremacy and resentment of blacks...I was reading a fight report of that Tate/Coetzee fight some time ago, and apparently Tate's walk to ring wasn't without incident, as he had to deal with a number of threats & attempts of physical violence. And after Tate gave Coetzee a pretty one-sided beating (in what was described as a "ferocious downpour" of rain, no less), the fans rioted in the stadium (mostly the many whites attacking the few blacks in attendance) and one young fan supposedly lost his life during it all.

If I remember correctly, the 8th round of Muhammad/Lopez (II?) is insane. Both guys take turns landing monster shots through the entire round. I second the pick of Toney dropping Jirov with less than 30 seconds left in the fight. Emmanuel Steward was going crazy: "Jirov is hurt! Jirov is hurt! Oh my God!" I also have to mention Gatti's legendary comeback vs Rodriguez. It was the stuff of legends. Gatti had been dropped; he'd lost a point for low blows; his eyes were almost completely closed, and he storms back to KO Rodriguez with a highlight reel left hook that left Larry Merchant saying "People will never forget this fight. It will be shown over and over and over again." Chavez over Taylor was also insane. Before the final round, Chavez's corner man tells him "You are more than he is." Halfway through the round, Jim Lampley mentions "Right now it just doesn't look like Chavez has the stuff to get it done." The seconds pass, Chavez staggers Taylor, the crowd roars, and then Chavez unloads a right that demolishes Taylor, and the crowd almost blows the HBO microphones. Foreman/Moore is another classic. The commentators have basically conceded Big George's defeat. Merchant mentions "The Legend of Foreman's power." Then Foreman lowers the boom out of nowhere. *Close but no cigar clutch awards in losing efforts* BTW, I didn't score the fights, but honorable mention to Gatti winning the 10th round in Gatti/Ward 1 after being battered all across the ring in round 9. Also honorable mention to Holyfield dropping Bowe in Bowe/Holyfield 3 after Foreman was demanding the referee to stop the fight earlier.

i always feel so bad for big john.. i have an article about him right after he died. It says kids would come up to him and fall on the ground to make fun of him after this fight..

Matthew Saad Muhammad was the KING of come from behind wins. Dude was in danger of being stopped against Marvin Johnson in their second bout and came back with a big time KO. Shit all I remember of MSM is him beng hurt a lot and coming back to win. Yaqui Lopez was dominating their second fight, battering MSM around the ring with big rights and lefts. Matt comes back and drops him 3 times or so and knocks him out in the 14th. He must have been the most exciting fighter for his time. I'm mad I've only seen a couple of his fights when I was a lot younger. BTW if anyone has good footage of miracle matt hit me up with em. I dont have points anymore but im cool like that so yeah.

I looked the fight up but couldn't fight any footage in my usual spots. Anybody? Sounds like a hell of a fight.

im gonna sound stanish but the last three rounds in tarver-jones 1 were pretty good. toney in the final round(jirov fight), on hbo's card needed a knockdown and delievered.

James Toney was cut against somebody I don't remember, and behind on the cards. This was when he was a super middleweight. The Ref comes over and says to Toney "I gotta stop it" Toney says, "GIVE ME ONE MORE ROUND" and the Ref does, and Toney KO"s him to retain the title. Can't get more clutch than that. Weaver just got a lucky punch.

I wish you had some footage to show us from the fight. Sounds like a brutal KO.

You can debate all you want... but will there EVER be a greater come from behind desperation KO than Mike Weaver knocking John Tate OUT (O-U-T) with only a few seconds to go in the FIFTEENTH and final round for the WBA Heavyweight championship in a fight he was HOPELESSLY behind in? Along with that Weaver/Tate fight, there's another one that's right up there in the dramatics... Jake Lamotta knocking out Laurent Dauthuille at 2:47 of the 15th and final round to retain the Middleweight title, after LaMotta had been well behind on the cards of all three judges.

peden vs nate. nate had the fight won then he got cocky dropped his guard and went down from a left hook i belive it was

JAY..picture this... 15 round fight.. Weaver is getting outboxed for 14 and a half rounds.... fight is only seconds from being over.. Tate will win and likely fight Larry Holmes afterwards.. people have turned the TV off.. allof a suden with like 15 seconds to go Weaver lands a BOMB and tate is out on impact, out as he falls like a tree to the floor. Hollywood couldn't do any better.

Got any footage John? I know my Dad will know what your talkin bout though :p