Mike Weaver - How did he get a title shot against Holmes?

[Controversial]

Mike Weaver had very average record before fighting Holmes for the title, 19-8 (13 ko's) and hadn't beat anyone of note. Why did he get a title shot?

[SaadOffTheDeck]

I think he was the USBA or NABF champion, might have beaten Stan Ward for it. Those minor belts got you title shots back in the day. And there wasn't much else there at the time. Great fight, saw it on CCTV. Duran/Palomino was on the UC.

[Robinson]

I think he was the USBA champ and was in the right spot at the right time.

In any case he is far more credible in my books than some of Louis', Tommy
Burns or Jim Jeffries defences.

And Weaver certainly did go on to prove himself an interesting, capable
and tough ABC champion.

[Robinson]

Like I said it Weaver at that time was not as bad as some
past challengers of the title.

Holmes atleast has the reality of fighting during a fractured
title landscape where more than one claimant and
numerous governing bodies existed.

Past 'greats' simply had a colour line to separate the
title which was often by choice and those guys were
quite happy to nit pick opponents.

Burns was happy to give Bill Squires three shots
at his title and none of them were very competitive
bouts.

I guess Holmes would be considered a true great if
he showed up drunk to a fight thus rudely denying
his opponent, the crowd and all involved a bout.

Weaver at that time was not perhaps the best
contender in the land but he was far from the
worse ever to face a World champion.

[Robinson]

And Mike Weaver would go on to give us plenty of
thrills there after.

[witherspoon]

Mike Weaver always came across as a really nice guy, and he stood out among the 80's HW's as a clean living champion who always looked in shape.
Does anyone know what he's up to these days?

[Robinson]

Witherspoon,

Mike is on Facebook and looks to be in great shape. He seems to be
doing personal training and is pretty active in the community.

He is also some what responsive to questions and enquiry on their.

I have had some decent convos with him. Tim Witherspoon and James Tillis
are also pretty frequent on FB and are happy to discuss and engage with
the fans.

[Flump]

Larry Holmes

Larry was looking for an 'easy' 3rd Title Defense on National Television for late-June 1979.

Larry Holmes was asking for a $750,000 Fight Purse, and the Challenger of his choice.

'5' fighters were brought up as possible Challengers, and all were turned down by the
Networks.

* Leroy Jones {North American Heavyweight Champion}
* Mike Weaver {United States Heavyweight Champion
* John Lewis Gardner {British Heavyweight and British-Commonwealth Champion}
* Alfio Righetti {Italian Heavyweight Champion}
* Lorenzo Zanon {European Hevyweight Champion}

Madison Square Garden was interested in the Championship Bout when the Networks rejected
all '5' named challengers.

Didn't Holmes fight Zanon and Jones on network TV within a year or so anyway?

[witherspoon]

Witherspoon,

Mike is on Facebook and looks to be in great shape. He seems to be
doing personal training and is pretty active in the community.

He is also some what responsive to questions and enquiry on their.

I have had some decent convos with him. Tim Witherspoon and James Tillis
are also pretty frequent on FB and are happy to discuss and engage with
the fans.

Thanks. I might have to reconsider my attitude towards facebook if it can get me interaction with these guys.

[Flump]

Flump

In March 1979, the Networks were willing to buy a Larry Holmes - Ron Lyle bout for June 1979.

And once Ron Lyle defeated Scott LeDoux in May 1979, that is the only one that they had wanted
for National Television.

Right. Did Lyle's arrest for manslaughter have anything tyo do with it? I'm sketchy on exactly when that took place but I'll check it out.

[bluerosekiller]

Just to fill in a few missing pieces on the subject of this thread...

- Weaver began his pro career with little to no guidance & just took whatever fights came his way. Many of them on short notice & in the opponent's backyard. Finishing his first dozen bouts with a mediocre .500 record of 6-6.

- Things improved after that with Weaver winning his next 8 fights. Including solid victories over respectable, rugged heavies in Tony Doyle, Young Sekona, Dwain Bonds & Jody Ballard. With his two best wins being over New York's unbeaten Bill Sharkey & the Argentinian top ten contender Pedro Lovell.
The last two of which started him toward his own world ranking.

- However, two highly questionable 12 round decision losses to top ten contenders in California State champ Stan Ward ( whose only loss came in a disputed split nod to Ron Lyle ) & unbeaten NABF champion Leroy Jones followed, which set him back a bit.

- But, Weaver came back from those bouts as an even better, more determined heavyweight who won five straight via KO. With perhaps the most crucial one being his upset KO5 over the 19-1 Bernardo Mercado, who was still high in the WBC ratings despite a KO by 2 loss to John Tate in his last fight.

- In fact, the WBC seemed to look upon Mercado as some sort of a "Favorite Son" as they continued to rate him highly throughout the entirety of his career & did just about everything they could have with the aide of his promoter Don King to get him a title opportunity against Larry Holmes. And, there were those at the time who actually gave the big Columbian a good chance at an upset were he to meet Holmes because of his immense strength, awkward style & huge right hand power. But, on both occasions when he was assured of a title shot if he won his next bout, he was beaten by underdog opponents in Leon Spinks & "Tex" Cobb. After which, several periods of inactivity hampered his career & yet he was STILL rated in the 'BC top ten & being given some consideration for a shot at Mike Tyson in '89, but alas, in the final fight of his rather disappointing career, Mercado was knocked out in one round by the emerging puncher from down under in Jimmy Thunder.

- Weaver then followed that victory up with another impressive KO win in a rematch with previous conqueror Stan Ward, this time for the USBA title. After which he scored a 4th round KO of one time prospect Oliver Phillips. Firmly establishing himself as a MUCH improved, dangerous contender in the top ten of both the WBC & the WBA.

- Unfortunately, ABC which had been televising all of Holmes title fights just didn't have confidence that they could build a prime time card around the 19-8 Weaver. Even though, just a couple of years prevous, they were OK with Ali defending against the rather hapless trio of Jean Pierre Coopman, Richard Dunn & Alfredo Evangelista. Each one of whom Weaver would have easily beaten, all inside five rounds or less.
The network wanted Ron Lyle, but Holmes & King stood firm on Weaver as an opponent. Thinking that the champ would have an easy time of it with the unknown west coast banger.
Even with what was then-a virtual "dream fight" between Roberto Duran & Carlos Palomino as the co-main attraction, ABC STILL wouldn't shell out the necessary funds to televise the card, so King & company took it to the then MUCH smaller viewing audience of HBO. Something unheard of at the time, but HBO was able to afford it because of their pay channel status & wound up getting one of the best fight cards of the year in the process. Clearly leaving ABC ( as well as the other two broadcast networks who showed no interest in it when King presented it to them once ABC vetoed it ) with egg on it's face. And, not so incidentally, it opened up negotiations between HBO & Don King for the future...

[SaadOffTheDeck]

I watched Holmes/Weaver on CC-TV, that obviously helped with the money.

[bluerosekiller]

Wow, I almost forgot that back in those days so many folks around the country DIDN'T have HBO that promoters could still earn some decent $$$ with selected closed circuit telecasts across the country.
I mean, to me, that almost sounds like the "wild west" or something, but believe me, I had to go to see my fair share that way.
Not the HBO caliber shows, but all the major ones in the early '80s.
For the Holmes/Weaver show though, our city of Lockport, NY was still about a year away from being wired for cable, but luckily, my grandparents lived about 12 miles south of us in Amherst where they had cable. Including HBO. So, I watched that card there.
Then came that whole glut of CCTV fights thru '80 & '81, but then in 1982, beginning with Holmes/Cooney we were able to order the fights on PPV. Though that's not what they called it at the beginning. It had some other name, but I can never quite recall what it is.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

I used to love going to CC-TV. I think the last one I saw was Tyson/Spinks. Something funny from that under card was Douglas knocked out Mike Williams with what I recall with being the same kind of combination he later iced Tyson with.

[bluerosekiller]

Yep. Come to think of it, I believe you're spot on regarding those uppercuts & hooks from Douglas.
As I recall, he was pretty damn trim & just took the favored Williams apart with ease.
That being I'm sure, his last real shot at earning a REAL shot. Know what I mean?
Douglas had been on a similar streak of good wins & decent performances a couple of summers earlier. And, as a result, he got his first World Title opportunity against unbeaten IBF champ Tony Tucker.
In which Douglas appeared to start out just great. Controlling the ring, using his underrated jab & landing the more significant blows. All of which made Tony Tucker appear VERY unsure of himself.
Unfortunately, for Douglas however, he allowed himself to lose control of the fight through the middle rounds, after which Buster's old demons of doubt & fear crept in, took hold & Tucker was rallying to stop Douglas in a sudden turn around.
Looking at it now, all these years later, I was surprised at how much it reminded me of another heavyweight who would be active about a decade or so later in one Andrew Golota.

[Ambling Alp II]

Larry Holmes

Larry was looking for an 'easy' 3rd Title Defense on National Television for late-June 1979.

Larry Holmes was asking for a $750,000 Fight Purse, and the Challenger of his choice.

'5' fighters were brought up as possible Challengers, and all were turned down by the
Networks.

* Leroy Jones {North American Heavyweight Champion}
* Mike Weaver {United States Heavyweight Champion
* John Lewis Gardner {British Heavyweight and British-Commonwealth Champion}
* Alfio Righetti {Italian Heavyweight Champion}
* Lorenzo Zanon {European Hevyweight Champion}

Madison Square Garden was interested in the Championship Bout when the Networks rejected
all '5' named challengers.

Didn't Holmes fight Zanon and Jones on network TV within a year or so anyway?

Holmes did later defend the title on network TV. However, The Jones defense was part of a huge card. Not sure sure if the networks would have gone for it if they didn't have other big fights on the card.

The Holmes-Zanon defense was not in primetime. It was actually on a weekend afternoon. I could be wrong, but I think it was the only one of Holmes' title defenses that was televised this way.