Frank Tate (born August 27, 1964) is an American former professional boxer.
Amateur career Tate was the 1983 National Golden Gloves light middleweight champion. He trained at the Kronk Gym in Detroit under head coach Emanuel Steward, alongside fellow Olympic gold medalist Steve McCrory and world champions including Thomas Hearns and Hilmer Kenty.Essett advances to USABC finals By DAVID KNIGHT, The Indianapolis Star, December 17, 1982, p. 68. In 1984, Tate was ranked fifth in the world by the AIBA at light middleweight — one of four Kronk Gym fighters simultaneously ranked in the AIBA world top ten that year. He also won the light middleweight gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics even though he had standing eight-counts administered to him twice in the second round of the gold medal bout against Canadian fighter Shawn O'Sullivan.
Olympic results 1st round bye Defeated Lotfi Ayed (Sweden) 5–0 Defeated Romolo Casamonica (Italy) 5–0 Defeated Christopher Kapopo (Zambia) RSC 1 Defeated Manfred Zielonka (West Germany) by walkover Defeated Shawn O'Sullivan (Canada) 5–0
Professional career
Middleweight
Tate began his professional career in December 1984. At 20–0, Tate won the vacant IBF middleweight title by beating Michael Olajide over fifteen rounds at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas in October 1987. Tate successfully defended his title against Tony Sibson with a tenth round stoppage in Staffordshire, England, before losing his belt to undefeated phenom Michael Nunn in nine rounds at Caesars Palace in July 1988.
Super-middleweight In January 1990 at Municipal Auditorium, New Orleans, Louisiana, Tate boxed Lindell Holmes for the vacant IBF super-middleweight title, losing a close majority decision.
Light-heavyweight Following the defeat, Tate moved up to light-heavyweight and defeated Uriah Grant and Andrew Maynard on a six fight win streak to set up a fight for the vacant WBA title against Virgil Hill in 1992. Tate lost a unanimous decision. After four more wins, Tate was granted a rematch with Hill in 1994 but again lost a convincing decision. This was Tate's last major fight, and after several victories over limited competition he was stopped in four rounds against David Telesco in his final pro bout.
Professional boxing record
ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes46Loss41–5 David Telesco 45Win41–4 Tyler Hughes 44Win40–4 David Humberto Gamez 43Win39–4 Norbert Nieroba 42Win38–4 Gary Butler 41Win37–4 Cliff Nellon 40Win36–4 Everardo Armenta Jr. 39Win35–4 Dominick Carter 38Loss34–4 Virgil Hill 37Win34–3 Rosendo Rosales 36Win33–3 Everardo Armenta Jr 35Win32–3 Ron Cramner 34Win31–3 Ramzi Hassan 33Loss30–3 Virgil Hill 32Win30–2 Tim Johnson 31Win29–2 Andrew Maynard 30Win28–2 Yawe Davis 29Win27–2 Uriah Grant 28Win26–2 Greg Everett 27Win25–2 William Clayton 26Loss24–2 Lindell Holmes 25Win24–1 Jimmy Bills 24Loss23–1 Michael Nunn 23Win23–0 Sanderline Williams 22Win22–0 Tony Sibson 21Win21–0 Michael Olajide 20Win20–0 James Williams 19Win19–0 Troy Darrell 18Win18–0 Mark McPherson 17Win17–0 Marvin Mack 16Win16–0 Winston Burnett 15Win15–0 Kevin Watts 14Win14–0 Curtis Parker 13Win13–0 Brian Muller 12Win12–0 Ricky Stackhouse 11Win11–0 Jerry Williams 10Win10–0 Randy Smith 9Win9–0 Bruce Calloway 8Win8–0 Thomas Smith 7Win7–0 David Barrow 6Win6–0 Calvin Prejean 5Win5–0 Ron Lee Warrior 4Win4–0 Carl Orville 3Win3–0 Phil Jones 2Win2–0 Joe McKnight 1Win1–0 Mike Pucciarelli
See also List of world middleweight boxing champions
References
External links
Interview with Olympic Gold Medal Winner: Frank Tate, 1984-12-11, In Black America; KUT Radio, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (WGBH and the Library of Congress)