Describe A Usyk Vs Tim Witherspoon Fight?

Ney absolutely loves Larry, we could even be talking a Holmes shrine in his living room. However, I should let Ney speak for himself on that subject.

 

Larry was 33 1/2 and a bit past it I think old mate - which does lend to the argument that Witherspoon wasn’t fighting the best version of Holmes - so Witherspoons performance does have to be measured relative to that.

However, in the frame of it not being the best version of Holmes, I think Larry upheld some important feature synonymous with greatness - enormous heart and tenacity.

Round 9 was a ripper and I think Larry’s fight back was terrific and that he might’ve even clawed back the honours for the round - if not, then he came close I think.

When hurt, Holmes often launched particularly effective fight backs - plenty of mongrel in Holmes.

 

Ney would love that, I’m sure Ferg!

 

WBC belt sold separately.

 

Whether it was prime Holmes is a marginal call IMO - he started late & he peaked late (around 28 years of age). He would have been indisputably peak until around 32 or 33. Closer to it than a rookie Witherspoon was to his.

It was a far closer fight than it should have been, & Holmes’ respected career has led people to attribute this to Witherspoon’s greatness - even though the rest of his career bore out no such thing, & this happened to Holmes more than once.

But there is a vested interest in propping up all great fighters, generally. If the people decide you’re great, there must be an explanation which doesn’t contradict that found. Neither Holmes’ nor Witherspoon’s career supports the idea the latter was that good at just 15-0 to arguably beat a prime, or borderline prime, Holmes. But I can’t draw the logical conclusion thereafter…that’s blasphemy.

 

Great fighter. Almost proved it once or twice. But I guess even better than being great is getting thought of that way, without having to go through any great opposition.

Larry’s a winner if ever I saw one.

 

I thought Bruno was the only top 10 heavy ever kayoed by Witherspoon. There's not much evidence pointing to him being a huge puncher

 

Can Witherspoon maintain the workrate Bredis did?

 

I would anticipate Usyk being the busier of the two. But I’m not sure how he’d react to Witherspoon’s unique fighting style or relentlessness. I imagine that if both were in top form anything can happen

 

Usyk by KO 8-10

 

As a matter of interest, are you asking this because you consider Briedis to have exhibited an exceptional workrate?


Either way, even if we say that Witherspoon can't maintain a Briedis-like workrate (whatever that is) - I'm not sure what falling short of this unquantified benchmark would mean in real terms.

Added to this is that I am also not sure one beats Usyk with a high workrate alone. I'd much prefer to bet on shot selection, precision and power than just punch volume.