Frank Tate (born August 27, 1964, in Detroit, Michigan) is a former American

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

Amateur career

Tate was the 1983 National Golden Gloves light middleweight champion. Tate was training at the

Kronk Gym Kronk Gym is a boxing gym located in Detroit, once led by trainer Emanuel Steward. It was run out of the basement of the oldest recreation center of the City of Detroit, and became a household word in the sport of boxing and its gold shorts a magne ...

. He also won the

light middleweight Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight,PeBoxRec/ref> is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the IBF or super welterweight in the WBA an ...

gold medal at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

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 Shawn O'Sullivan (born May 9, 1962 in Toronto, Ontario) is a retired Canadian boxer who won gold at the World Amateur Championships in 1981 and the light middleweight silver medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics. He was inducted into Box ...

Olympic results

*1st round bye *Defeated

Lotfi Ayed Lotfi Ayed (born 25 February 1959) is a Swedish boxer. He competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics and the 1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 198 ...

(Sweden) 5–0 *Defeated

Romolo Casamonica Romolo Casamonica (born 23 December 1962) is an Italian former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 1996. As an amateur, he competed in the Boxing at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Light middleweight, men's light middleweight event at the ...

(Italy) 5–0 *Defeated Christopher Kapopo (Zambia) RSC 1 *Defeated

Manfred Zielonka Manfred Zielonka (born 24 January 1960 in Krzyżowa Dolina, Poland) is a retired boxer from West Germany. At the 1984 Summer Olympics he won the bronze medal in the men's light middleweight division (– 71 kg). In the semifinals he ...

(West Germany) by walkover *Defeated

(Canada) 5–0

Professional career

Middleweight

Tate began his professional career in December 1984. At 20–0, Tate won the vacant

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

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 Michael John Nunn (born April 14, 1963) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 2002. He is a two-weight world champion, having held the IBF middleweight title from 1988 to 1991, and the WBA super middleweight title f ...

in nine rounds at Caesars Palace in July 1988.

Super-middleweight

In January 1990 at Municipal Auditorium, New Orleans, Louisiana, Tate boxed

Lindell Holmes Lindell Holmes (born April 4, 1957 in Toledo, Ohio) is a retired American boxer who in 1990-91 held the IBF super-middleweight title. Professional career Holmes turned professional in 1979 and in 1986 challenged IBF super-middleweight title ho ...

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 Uriah or Uriyah () is a Hebrew given name. It may refer to: People In the Bible *Uriah the Hittite, a soldier in King David's army in the Books of Samuel *Uriah, a priest under Ahaz in the Books of Kings *Uriah (prophet), a prophet murdered by Je ...

and Andrew Maynard on a six fight win streak to set up a fight for the vacant WBA title against

Virgil Hill Virgil Eugene Hill (born January 18, 1964) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 2007, and in 2015. He is a two-weight world champion, having held the WBA light heavyweight title twice, from 1987 to 1997; the IBF a ...

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

References

External links

*
Interview with Olympic Gold Medal Winner: Frank Tate
1984-12-11,

In Black America Produced at KUT, ''In Black America'' is a long-running, nationally syndicated program dedicated to all facets of the African American experience. John L Hanson Jr. profiles a diverse selection of current and historically significant figures who ...

; KUT Radio,

American Archive of Public Broadcasting The American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB) is a collaboration between the Library of Congress and WGBH Educational Foundation, founded through the efforts of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The AAPB is a national effort to digitall ...

(

WGBH WGBH may refer to: * WGBH Educational Foundation, based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States ** WGBH (FM), a public radio station at Boston, Massachusetts on 89.7 MHz owned by the WGBH Educational Foundation ** WGBH-TV WGBH-TV (channel 2), ...

and the Library of Congress) {{DEFAULTSORT:Tate, Frank 1964 births Living people American male boxers African-American boxers Boxers from Detroit Olympic boxers of the United States Boxers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in boxing Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics National Golden Gloves champions Winners of the United States Championship for amateur boxers Middleweight boxers Super-middleweight boxers Light-heavyweight boxers World middleweight boxing champions International Boxing Federation champions 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople