The 80s are the most criminally underrated era in HW history

Drugs clearly played a role in the inconsistency of many of these guys. King was and is a pos but too often is made a scapegoat. Yes he froze C ooney out of the picture but that didn't cause Gerry to abuse cocaine and alcohol. King also greatly affected Withesrspoon who I didn't list above. I will say there was more corruption under King today for several reasons things are "a little" better.

 

I think they are fairly rated.
The 1990s HW is overrated, that's why 80s seem underrated.

 

yeah good memory, I am going to have to youtube that one.

 

you won't have to block out much time to watch it.. It was only one round.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJhE6f9lqXk

 

Look at Tucker...King screwed him over on his paycheck for Tyson and then froze him after. He wasn't just blindly partying and neglecting his career.

****ey had good people. They got him paid. He messed up his own career.

 

wow,

I hope that guy was ok, he looked like he was having a stroke after Timmy hit him,, wow,,,,,

yeah Tim had lots of talent, thanks dude.

 

Yeah the weird facial expression on Ecklund was something to remember.

 

I liked Tucker and King scr*wed him over like many other fighters but Tucker did end up abusing drugs too.

On a side note I see Witherspoon is claiming he took a dive against Bonecrusher? Any validity to that story it was one of Bobecrusher's finest wins and the right hand does seen to land On the button

 

I've always believed that he did..

In 1990, I watched Tim fight a journeyman named Jeff Sims on USA Tuesday night fights ( not a network you'd know about if you live abroad. ) Anyway, Sean O'Grady was one of the hosts of that show. During the fight commentary, O'Grady said he interviewed Tim before the fight. Witherspoon claimed that Don King approached him before the fight and said if you win this bout, you WILL test positive for drugs. And then said that he tested positive anyway after he threw the fight.. For about two years after that, Witherspoon's ratings by the alphabet organizations continued to drop even though he was winning decent fights. Many years later in the 2000's, the same topic was brought up, but Witherspoon's answer was a little different. He now claimed that he WANTED to throw the fight just to be rid of Don King, as he was constantly being robbed of fair purses, forced into fights he didn't want, etc, etc.. But one thing is consistent.. In both of Witherspoon's stories he said that he threw the fight, willingly or unwillingly. Given that he typically didn't front excuses for any of his other defeats and in fact DID beat Smith a year earlier, I find his story to be quite believable.

 

There's quite a bit of background to this in Tysons book by Peter Heller, a chapter is devoted solely to Don Kinf and it mentions some of his exploits.

One of those includes charging Witherspoon "$7,000" for sparring because King 'accidentally' added an extra zero.

When Witherspoon tried to sue King he got the double whammy. He went to his manager to report it, his manager being Carl King. Dons son! So he got shafted by his manager and promoter and then he was blackballed.

I'm not sure about the dive though because, didn't Smith knock some of Spoons teeth out?

 

Yes, and decked him three times. But just because Witherspoon knew he was going to throw the fight, doesn't mean Smith did. As for Don and Carl King they were notorious for that kinda Shlt. Tyson said that one time he got some outrageous laundry bill just for his gym towels.. There's a special place in hell for the King family and hope they're greeted with a welcoming party.

 

The backstory does give credibility to the dive allegation by Witherspoon. However the fight footage looks legit. Bonecrusher lands a sweet inside right on the jaw that doesn't look rehe****d. I'm wondering maybe Spoon got clipped and maybe tanked it rather than trying to give his best effort to make a comeback or survive the round.

 

I agree ! The average quality of the fights were awesome ! I would add Carl Williams and Renaldo Snipes to this list .

 

I don't think Smith knew Spoon was going to the throw the fight and the tank. Hence he went out there full blast like a challenger generally does when given a title shot. Spoon was not that easy to hit upstairs and had dealt with Smith before..

 

They could do some serious damage to a buffet or an 8-ball, no doubt.

Other than that, they are rated correctly.