Tyson's management wanted no part of Witherspoon in 1986 and 1987. Witherspoon IMO was better than either Bruno who exposed Tyson a bit and Douglas who knocked him out.
The Dynamic Duo were not worried about Witherspoon. And although I would agree with your statement about Tim being better than both Bomber and Buster, in 86/87 Tyson was in top form and Witherspoon at best was flaky.
What people also fail to mention is, before fighting Bruno, Tyson was coming off his longest layoff at the time. 8 month layoff after the Spinks fight, marriage, divorce and reported suicide attempts, a car accident and mood altering drugs. Not to mention being sued by Rooney (Which then caused the complete termination of their relationship). Thats something which a lot of people dont know, it was actually Rooney who caused the final parting not Tyson. It is mentioned in Tysons autobiography by Peter Heller. The initial plan was to have Rooney miss the Bruno fight as 'punishment' for interferring in Tysons private marital life, Rooney then sued Tyson during this period and Tyson basically said screw you and that was that.
Yep, I remember reading that about Rooney. Tyson also wasn't too pleased that Jim Jacobs kept a lot of **** in the dark from him. Certain percentages of his purse going to Jacob's wife and what not. Mike was also coming back from a hairline fracture after dismantling Blood Green's face. That hairline fracture wouldn't heal, apparently, after trying to rush back into the ring, so the Bruno fight kept getting postponed. Just copped The Undisputed Truth. How does it rank with the Tyson books of yesteryear?
Im more of a Spoon fan than a Tyson fan but I gotta say Tyson wins here. Mike was fighting great in 1986 and Tim was a good fighter but I don`t think he could hold Tyson off at that time.
Tyson KO 2 Witherspoon. Relatively easy nights work for peak Tyson, can't see him having to sweat too much with Tim, decent fighter he was to be fair, though no match for Tyson in 86'
If Witherspoon showed up motivated and ready I could see him giving Tyson a very tough fight for however long it last. Tyson especially at this stage in his career would be a threat to get a knock out at any point in the bout. I think Witherspoon would likely either get taken out early in the bout or he'd be there for the long hall and give Tyson and tough fight. Tyson at this point in his career may even be capable of getting a late round knock out.
This thread is like Marciano threads. A bunch of morons crying over their TV hero. People like to give years and say Tyson was unbeatable that year. Who in the hell was Tyson fighting in 1986? Nobody but I guess beating Marvis Frazier and Reggie Gross made Tyson a boxing God. A motivated Tim Witherspoon knocks Tyson out way quicker than Douglas did.
It's the first dive in history where the "diver" got his front tooth knocked out. If you read Spoon's bio, every loss was a fight where he let the other guy win. Bonecrusher Smith stopped him legitimately. No one doubted it at the time. 30 years later, Spoon says he quit on purpose. Now people are starting to believe it. That doesn't wash.