John Tate KOd by David Pearce in a 1994 unlicensed bout (?!)

[Riddick Bowie]

Is there any evidence to support this rather fantastical sounding bout that has been added to the respective fighters' Wikipedia entries in relatively recent times?

Supposedly both men were boxing unlicensed in 1994, Tate had previously KOd Mary Konate in 1 (!) before Pearce, a physical wreck at this time, KOd him in 3.

I was following boxing avidly in this era and reading the various publications religiously and this fight is news to me, and it seems hard to believe such a curious spectacle, and result, would go unreported by all of them. I've never seen it mentioned online in the 30 years since the fight supposedly happened, nor have I ever seen reference to it in published profiles written by journalists. The latest scenes in the tragedy of John Tate seemed to be regularly reported in the 90s --has anyone seen or heard anything reliable involving this fight?

[The Docker]

Pretty sure I heard this way back but can't validate this. Know a geezer heavily into these unsanctioned bouts and will run it by him next time I see him in the boozer. Think Pearce was to fight Lenny McLean at some point too, but Mcleans name has been linked to many many unsanctioned bouts that never actually transpired.

[evrenb]

Ron Lewis mentioned it and he is a respected journalist.

[Riddick Bowie]

Ron Lewis mentioned it and he is a respected journalist.

In what? Can you elaborate?

Zombie Leon Spinks was in some primitive bare knuckle championship in the early 90s and even that got coverage in the boxing press. It seems incredible an exhumed John Tate getting KOd by a brain dead Welsh cruiser in Cali went unmentioned by everybody.

[evrenb]

Ron Lewis mentioned it and he is a respected journalist.

In what? Can you elaborate?

Zombie Leon Spinks was in some primitive bare knuckle championship in the early 90s and even that got coverage in the boxing press. It seems incredible an exhumed John Tate getting KOd by a brain dead Welsh cruiser in Cali went unmentioned by everybody.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/forg ... -zxlnlr96g

[Riddick Bowie]

Looked it up. Ron Lewis made reference to it decades after the fact in an article on David Pearce that clearly lifts the info from Wikipedia. He wasn't even a journo till the late 90s. Him copying and pasting some legend from a Pearce hardcore is not evidence.

[wouter]

Zombie Leon Spinks was in some primitive bare knuckle championship in the early 90s and even that got coverage in the boxing press. It seems incredible an exhumed John Tate getting KOd by a brain dead Welsh cruiser in Cali went unmentioned by everybody.

These bouts never happened, that’s why you haven’t heard of them.

[Riddick Bowie]

Pre-internet, no Pearce obituary by American or British grizzled veteran boxing journos who followed his career make reference to a John Tate fight. They do make reference to his homeless, injured, brain damaged and generally harrowing state prior to the Lucien Rodriguez debacle in 1984.

A resurrected Pearce blasting out Konate and Tate in mysterious bouts a decade later in California sounds like a tall tale straight out of a Welsh boozer. It feels like something a rube heard and ran straight home to write up on Wikipedia.

[wouter]

A resurrected Pearce blasting out Konate and Tate in mysterious bouts a decade later in California sounds like a tall tale straight out of a Welsh boozer. It feels like something a rube heard and ran straight home to write up on Wikipedia.

Yes, that's how it goes nowadays. Unfortunately to get rid of these stories once they're out is like putting toothpaste back in the tube. The Perscell Davis was his last bout which, if I remember correctly, got a writeup in Boxing Monthly. It wasn't unsanctioned but Pearce fought abroad because he couldn't get a licence in the U.K.

[evrenb]

Looked it up. Ron Lewis made reference to it decades after the fact in an article on David Pearce that clearly lifts the info from Wikipedia. He wasn't even a journo till the late 90s. Him copying and pasting some legend from a Pearce hardcore is not evidence.

Does the Wikipedia reference a source?
It does seem very implausible. Wasn't there a decent documentary about Pearce on BBC Wales recently. I don't remember a mention to the Tate fight in that...

[Riddick Bowie]

A resurrected Pearce blasting out Konate and Tate in mysterious bouts a decade later in California sounds like a tall tale straight out of a Welsh boozer. It feels like something a rube heard and ran straight home to write up on Wikipedia.

Yes, that's how it goes nowadays. Unfortunately to get rid of these stories once they're out is like putting toothpaste back in the tube. The Perscell Davis was his last bout which, if I remember correctly, got a writeup in Boxing Monthly. It wasn't unsanctioned but Pearce fought abroad because he couldn't get a licence in the U.K.

Yep, the 1990 Davis fight was covered at the time and featured in all the obituaries in 2000. No mention of these miraculous comeback results then when they would be fresh in the memory.

John Tate died in 1998, a mere four years after the supposed fights took place, but no obituary makes reference to them either.

The earliest reference I can find for these fights is 2018 (!!) when his fanatics were campaigning for a statue of their idol.

[Riddick Bowie]

Looked it up. Ron Lewis made reference to it decades after the fact in an article on David Pearce that clearly lifts the info from Wikipedia. He wasn't even a journo till the late 90s. Him copying and pasting some legend from a Pearce hardcore is not evidence.

Does the Wikipedia reference a source?
It does seem very implausible. Wasn't there a decent documentary about Pearce on BBC Wales recently. I don't remember a mention to the Tate fight in that...

The Wikipedia initially had no citation, until Ron Lewis read it on Wikipedia and included it in his evidently quickly written piece on Pearce, and now that is the citation!

It seems highly suspect that the entirety of the boxing journo community made no mention of such a fight when writing Tate's obituaries in 1998 a mere four years after the fights took place, even more suspect that the tales seem to have come out of Wales circa 2018.

[margaret thatcher]

his wikipedia is basically a fan page

[bennie]

Pre-internet, no Pearce obituary by American or British grizzled veteran boxing journos who followed his career make reference to a John Tate fight. They do make reference to his homeless, injured, brain damaged and generally harrowing state prior to the Lucien Rodriguez debacle in 1984.

A resurrected Pearce blasting out Konate and Tate in mysterious bouts a decade later in California sounds like a tall tale straight out of a Welsh boozer. It feels like something a rube heard and ran straight home to write up on Wikipedia.

I met Pearce in 1983 and he was witty and charming. A year later, he came into Boxing News after the Rodriguez defeat and was still tip-top, although distraught at Harry Mullan's description of the fight.
The late Ron Lewis was writing articles for BN from the mid-1980s and the man really knew his boxing.

[Riddick Bowie]

Pre-internet, no Pearce obituary by American or British grizzled veteran boxing journos who followed his career make reference to a John Tate fight. They do make reference to his homeless, injured, brain damaged and generally harrowing state prior to the Lucien Rodriguez debacle in 1984.

A resurrected Pearce blasting out Konate and Tate in mysterious bouts a decade later in California sounds like a tall tale straight out of a Welsh boozer. It feels like something a rube heard and ran straight home to write up on Wikipedia.

I met Pearce in 1983 and he was witty and charming. A year later, he came into Boxing News after the Rodriguez defeat and was still tip-top, although distraught at Harry Mullan's description of the fight.
The late Ron Lewis was writing articles for BN from the mid-1980s and the man really knew his boxing.

Ron Lewis would have been a teenager in the mid-80s Bennie, are you sure you have the right guy?

Without dates, locations, details, or contemporaneous references these bouts are suspect in the extreme. Literally all boxing magazines missed an ex-heavyweight champion, whose downfall they wrote about frequently, staging a comeback in California in 1994. This is when The Ring and Boxing Illustrated had journos in every state covering even the most obscure fight cards. Tate knocks out Marvin Camel, the medically retired Pearce knocks out Mary Konate, then Pearce and Tate fight, and no one mentions it till 2018? Boxing News, AKA 'Every punch, every week', ignore David Pearce KOing John Tate?

Does this sound plausible to anybody here?

[evrenb]

You mean Ron Olver?

[Woller]

Boxing News flatly refused to write about unlicenced boxing. They had severe issues with allegedly because they refused to write about his unlicenced shows.