Yes. Sometimes the pure fighter can become a nice tank. The magical items he or she has acquired from a long time campaigning can allow them to over come a lot of obstacles and even take on powerful mages.
Having multiple attacks and doing some good amount of damage in a melee round can make the pure fighter a strong class at low level, medium level and even high levels. Outfitting them in the gear that makes the most of their abilities and protects them where they are weakest can really help too.
Txtpg I think you just described the sole purpose of a fighter. Distract the biggest uglies and survive while the others lay waste to it. Even in Killingfloor2 the same tactics apply. Put the tank out front healer behind and let him block the worst of the blows while high hitting magic users do their thing.
If the fighter has magic to protect him or not he can still be a good hitter and take some serious punishment in time for others with him to take out the others heavy hitters. Like Krakyn stated a good fighter can distract others so you can win the day.
High level fighters should be imposing, intimidating, and 110% the most distracting and disrupting force in the field.
In the high levels most of the classes have balanced out and each has their clutch or key role. DPS (Damage Per Second) Spell Casters need time to amp up for kill shot. Rogues need the distraction. Healers can take a couple of thumps but need the meat shield to hide behind.
As a high level fighter/warrior type consider defense, hit points, and powerful build up attack. Figure intimidate first to offer distraction. Second soak and block several attacks. When the spell caster is ready to let loose, use your distracting attack.
You need to weigh the play styles and advantages of power attacks versus many quick attacks. A tank or meat shield would use a power attack. Secondary tank or off DPS would utilize quick strikes. Given the same amount of time, the tank and the Off DPS will due the same amount of damage and still offer the necessary distractions for the other classes to get their jobs and tasks done.
Maybe this question is based on the gaming system. For instance does it allow the fighter to have really good powers of attack or defense or just simply a build up of hit points and bonuses? From what I see Pathfinder gives you lots of extras but the earlier versions of Dungeons & Dragons do not.
I think that 5e has fixed a lot of the problems with the fighters. It has weakened the caster class and has strengthened the fighter. At higher levels in 3.5 fighters were nothing special. Clerics could outfight them once they were fully buffed. Druids had the option to change into various forms to tank or cause maximum damage. Wizards had I win button spells. The fighter couldn't compete with this. The fighter was not necessary because there were classes that could do what the fighter did better plus they had magic to sling around.