Former WBA heavyweight champion Mike Weaver had an exciting, up-and-down ring career. The man dubbed “Hercules” endured a bumpy start to his pro career, with him going 5-5 in his initial ten bouts. But the former Marine who served in Vietnam was made of strong, determined stuff. And so it was, in June of 1979, that Weaver, a big underdog, gave defending WBC heavyweight champ Larry Holmes nothing but hell in what turned out to be a great action fight, Holmes taking plenty of hurt before getting Weaver out of there in the 12th round.
Weaver, a big puncher with proven heart and courage, was now 19-9, and his big wins lay ahead of him. Weaver, in March of 1980, scored a legendary last-gasp KO over John Tate to take the WBA heavyweight title. Weaver would make two retentions before he was ripped off by way of a premature stoppage in his December 1982 fight with Michael Dokes. Weaver appeared to win the return, only to go home with a draw on his record.
But Weaver, a great person outside of the ring, scored some memorable wins and some equally memorable KO’s during his career. Today, in great shape, the 73-year-old kindly took the time out to speak with Eastside Boxing, the subject primarily being the biggest heavyweight puncher in history.
Q: You were a great puncher yourself, champ. If you had to list some of the greatest heavyweight punchers ever, who comes to mind?
Mike Weaver: “Well, from my time, I would quickly say George Foreman. I actually worked with Foreman; we had an exhibition. He was very strong (laughs). That was when he was world champion. I was an up-and-coming guy at the time.”
Q: Who else would you rank as all-time great punchers?
M.W: “Guys like Sonny Liston, of course, and Earnie Shavers. As a matter of fact, I know a guy who sparred with Liston and Shavers. He also worked with me, and he told me himself that I hit harder than Shavers! I was like, what! The guy, I can’t remember his name, it’s really going back. But he worked with Sonny Liston, Shavers, and myself. Me and Earnie Shavers talked one day, and he said, ‘You’re a good puncher.’ I told him, ‘You’re a good puncher!’”
Q: What a fight it would have been if you and Shavers had fought.
M.W: “Oh yeah.”
Q: Who would you say hit you the hardest?
M.W: “That was a guy named Bernardo Mercado (Weaver won TKO 5 in October of 1978). We sparred in the gym, and the first time we sparred, he knocked me down. Then we fought, and he knocked me down again, but I knocked him out. He was a real hard puncher.”
Q: Modern-day guys that had power include the likes of Gerry Cooney, of course, Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, and Deontay Wilder…….
M.W: “Yeah, Gerry Cooney had power. Wilder, I don’t know about him because I never whupped him, so I don’t know how hard he hit. I fought Lewis, but I fought him at the end of my career. I was like 38 years old when I fought Lennox (in July of 1991, Lewis scored a 6th-round KO win). After we fought, and he stopped me, he asked me to come to London to work with him.”
Q: That fight might well have been different if you had fought him in your prime.
M.W: “I do believe it would have been a different fight if I’d fought him in my prime, yeah. Instead, it was at the end of my career when I fought Lewis. Another guy who hit hard was Bonecrusher Smith. When I fought him (twice, in April of 1986, Smith winning in a round, and in April of 1990, Smith winning on points), I wasn’t in my prime, but I was still in my mid-30s.”
Q: Looking back, you really did fight everybody!
M.W: “Yeah, I would fight anybody, at short notice, whatever. I didn’t really take fights seriously when I was coming up. I didn’t train, stuff like that. It was Ken Norton who told me that I should take fights seriously and start training and that if I did, I could make some noise.”
Q: You were so close to beating Larry Holmes in the great fight you two had in 1979.
M.W: “I was that close to beating Larry Holmes, yeah. I wouldn’t consider Holmes to be a real powerful puncher. He was a good puncher, but he wasn’t no powerful puncher. And he had a good jab, his jab was good. He had the best jab of anyone I fought, but he wasn’t no devastating knockout puncher.”
Q: What would you say your career-best KO win was?
M.W: “Oh, John Tate. Of course, that was my best knockout (in March of 1980, Weaver flattened Tate with just 45 clicks left on the clock in the 15th and final round). And John Tate was signed to fight Ali next, I found that out. But I knocked him out.”
Q: You had another good fight, this one with Gerrie Coetzee (Weaver won TKO 13).
M.W: “Oh, I forgot about him. Yeah, he was a good puncher. He passed away a couple of years ago. Bernardo Mercado passed away…….
Q: Yet you still look in great shape.
M.W: “(laughs), I’m 73 years old. I’ve got grey hair now!”
Q:Of course, it’s all down to opinion as far as who the hardest ever punchers were or are…
M.W: “Yeah, it is. I wouldn’t put myself up there….
Q: You could, though…..
M.W: “Thank you. My best punch was my left hook. My right hand, that was the punch that knocked out Coetzee, though. He had never been off his feet before he fought me. We fought in South Africa.”
Q: Do you still watch the heavyweights today?
M.W: “I still watch fights, yes, but I don’t know who the heavyweight champion is today. Who’s the champion today?
Q: Tyson Fury I’m sure you have seen, he lost to Oleksandr Usyk…..
M.W: “Yeah, Fury And Usyk, yeah, I’ve seen that guy.”
Q: Usyk isn’t a big guy in terms of weight, he’s around 220…..
M.W: “When I knocked out John Tate, I weighed 207 (laughs).”
Q: Thank you so much for your time, champ. I think they need to do a movie on your life.
M.W: “That sounds good. I like that!”
Q: To wrap things up, you’d probably list Foreman as the hardest heavyweight puncher.
M.W: “Yeah, I’d probably say George Foreman. I worked with him, so I know he was so strong, he was awesome.”
Mike Weaver was pretty awesome himself.
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