Why didn't Larry Holmes and Tim Witherspoon rematch?

Larry expected a soft touch against Witherspoon. I doubt he wanted a rematch.

 

Yes and No. I think Holmes would have won a re-match 6 months later.

I also think Witherpsoon would have beaten the Holmes who lost to Spinks as Holmes was slower and not as sharp due to age by then.

The what if is intriguing as I believe team Tyson avoided Witherpsoon. But if he was champion ( Lineal / ring magazine ) they would have to fight him.

 

I'd agree that Witherspoons effort deserved a rematch but I'd also agree that with witherspoons erratic level of performance after the Holmes fight it would not of been a fight Holmes would of dodged out of fear of losing but certainly one that he would not wanted due to the probability of a small purse

 

Some people did dispute the decision.

The majority of ringsiders had it for Witherspoon, and KO Magazine scored it a draw.

That in itself arguably warranted an immediate rematch.

I certainly don't think that fighting Scott Frank was a good answer to the naysayers.

 

??? Holmes won too many of the early rounds and closed the show late. Any judge who gave the final two round to Witherpsoon or any of the first four rounds to Witherspoon is doctoring their cards to make it close. Maybe Witherpsoon won round 3, I think not. So Holmes has six rounds won. Some rounds were close. Round 7, and action round was Holmes.

Witherpsoon won rounds 5, 8 and 9. Round 10 was very even.

Which ringsider had it for Witherpsoon?

I scored this one myself a while back, trying to find six rounds for Timmy

Round one Holmes
Round two Holmes
Round three -( close ) Holmes
Round four - Holmes
Round five - Witherspoon
Round six - ( close ) Holmes,
Round seven -Holmes
Round eight - Witherspoon
Round nine - Witherspoon
Round ten - Even
Round 11 - Holmes
Round 12 - Holmes

You can give Witherpoon the 10th, and one of the close rounds I gave to Holmes its still not enough.

 

They did a poll of ringsiders, and most had it for Witherspoon.

I think that the decision was booed.

I have never attempted to score the fight myself, but there was obviously significant controversy around the decision.

In my opinion, Holmes should have given a rematch, to put the matter beyond doubt.

 

I honestly believe if Larry was the undisputed champion a Witherspoon rematch would have happened. The trouble was contenders/challengers had too many other options. With one champion the best fight the best. With two or three champions the rest fight the rest.

This is how I remember it. Until the HBO tournament it never seemed possible that a heavyweight unification could ever happen. This is probably why defending against Michael Spinks, the lightheavyweight champion, happened. It was easier to make. Spinks was a good champion who was defending his own title.

It didn’t help that Holmes’s rivals were inactive or that Larry seemed to be the only world class heavyweight who could actually win fights. The other “champions” could not win fights at world level. They were terrible.

When the governing bodies finally allowed a window for a unification The Coetzee fight kept falling through financially. Eventually, when Holmes v Coetzee fell through for a third time each governing body ran out of patience. Both champions were asked to defend before being stripped. This was when Coetzee Lost to Page. Who knows? Maybe had Coetzee beat Page he might have went back into negotiations with Larry? Maybe if Witherspoon had of beat Thomas there would have been a strong enough demand to make the rematch with Larry?

As much as Thomas or Witherspoon might have wanted to fight Larry there was a lot of obstacles preventing those kinds of matches. I blame the Situation on there being too many champions.

If Larry was the sole champion every fight is easier to make. he would have no choice but to rematch Witherspoon and fight whoever was the sole number one contender.

 

Because he knew that Witherspoon, Page, and Thomas would clean his clock if he did. That is why he fought the questionable Michael Spinks when he did.

 

Because Larry ducked good fighters, often bragging about it.

Once he realized Spoon could beat him, there was no way that a rematch would ever happen.

 

Larry, at the time, didn't want to deal with Weaver either.

 

Did Larry ever rematch a tough fight? Norton,Weaver,Williams,Witherspoon? Did he ever unify the title? Coetzee, Dokes,Tate,Weaver, Page, Did he give up a title not to fight Greg Page?

 

Holmes was actually slated to fight Page had he gotten past David Bey, but Bey beat Page who liked to train in a Supermarket food aisle. So Bey got the shot and Holmes knocked him out.

Witherspoon lost to Pinklon Thomas in a close fight, and there just wasn’t the kind of public demand for the established champion Holmes to fight Thomas. Williams was the #1 contender anyway and Holmes fought and beat him.

There was really nobody in that group who earned an outright shot at Holmes and the payday. They were all losing fights to guys Holmes beat or to guys beaten by guys Holmes beat.

Weaver dispatched Coetzee, and after the controversial loss to Dokes he fought Dokes again to a drawbthat most thought he won. Dokes was subsequently Kayoed by Coetzee and Coetzee lost to Page who lost to Tubbs who lost to ‘Spoon who lost to Smith (Who Holmes beat when Smith was unbeaten).

None of them were winning long enough where anyone really cared if they fought Holmes. The prevailing thought was even an old Holmes would probably find a way to win since he was head and shoulders better than them.

 

Team Tyson didn’t avoid Witherspoon. Witherspoon was in line to fight him next but got kayoed in one by Smith. Most figured if Smith Kayoed him, it would be another first round KO for Tyson.

 

Tim Witherspoon was a high risk low reward opponent. He never captured the public’s imagination but yet he had a fighting style that could give just about anyone fits. Holmes was able to find ways to side step some of these types of challengers to get good paydays fighting safer contenders. I’m so doing he was able to extend his reign and winning streak. And even then he had some very close calls that some might even say could have gone the other way