Tyson vs Witherspoon prime!

Witherspoon's chin may have been granite but so was Pinklon Thomas's, and Tyson stopped him.

If both men were in top shape he'd give Tyson a good fight but ultimately I'd say Tyson wins, perhaps by KO or TKO, perhaps by decision.

 

I bet Cooper does hit like Smith. He was a hell of a puncher.
Your talking about a prime Tyson. When did he look for ways out of fights during his prime? The reason I think its a foregone conclusion is like I said before. Tyson himself has an excellent chin, hes much faster than Spoon (the biggest factor in my opinion), and Tyson was easily beating guys that Spoon was fighting even with. I dont know if Tyson would knock him out. Im not sure Spoon could box like Tucker or hold like Smith either, so I thats why I would lean towards Tyson taking him out, maybe not in one round, but by mid fight.

 

What about Razor Ruddock. What about Jose Ribalta, what about James Tillis, and Mitch Green. James Smith also tried. Again there's a difference between the Tyson that Tucker fought and the Tyson that Douglas and Holy fought.
Your using examples of Tyson in the time frame where Spoon was getting beaten by guys like Everett Martin and Larry Donald.
Were talking about Tyson in 1988 the peak of his best. The well trained and disciplined fighter that was tearing through fighters that Spoon was splitting with..

 

He certainly was.
But I think Bonecrusher Smith was off the scale when he connected properly. He rarely gets mentioned up there with Shavers & co. but I'm convinced Smith was one of the heaviest punchers ever.

 

Witherspoon would get annihilated IMO. Tyson hits way too hard, Witherspoon is on the level of a Berbick or Thomas, regardless of styles. He dines out on very close fight with Larry Holmes IMO

Tyson K.O 3

 

Noone did because they couldnt. You keep referring to a different fighter than the "prime" fighter we are supposed to be discussing in this thread. The reason it didnt happen to Tyson in his prime was because he was a better fighter, and was programmed differently. There was plenty of guys who came into the fights to fight Tyson, and most of them got knocked out quicker. There was guys who tried to box, and they were knocked out, and there was guys who held on for life, but they all lost. There was plenty of fighters on the level of Douglas that Tyson beat. I dont think Holyfield or Douglas would have beaten Tyson in his prime. He was too good, too fast.

 

:good it is about time people pulled there head out of the sand when it comes to Terrible Tim. A very good fighter, but just another Thomas/Tubbs level of ability who would be crucified early on.

 

I 2nd this.

 

Why would Witherspoon's being on the same level as those fighters make it an automatic for him get dispatched inside of five? If we're going to cram the 80's bunch into one equal category then it should be considered that:

- James Smith went 12
- Tony Tucker went 12
- Jose Ribalta went 10
- Mitch Green went 10
- JamesTillis went 10
- Tyrell Biggs went 7
- James Douglas went 10 and beat him ( okay, not the best Tyson)
- Razor Ruddock went 12

Hell, even Pinklon Thomas went 6 and the man had just lost to Berbick, plus had a known heroin problem.

All this and we haven't even begun to look at stylistic differences, which was the very reason why Tyson's team didn't want them getting together. Furthermore, if we look at Tyson's most devasting knockouts at the world level, we can see that there weren't that many of them which ended inside of 5 rounds. In fact, most of them came within a very short time frame of one another, and against aging or deconditioned foes.

- Trevor Berbick was 31 years of age, and went 2
- Holmes was 38, and off for two years. Got dispatched in 4
- Tony Tubbs was fairly young at 30, but showed up deconditioned and lost in 2
- Spinks was weeks shy of his 32nd birthday, fought 1 time in two years, and hardly looked interested. Lost in 1
- Frank Bruno was off for 16 months, took Tyson 5
- Carl Williams had previously been dusted by an aging Weaver in 2 rounds, got beat by mike in 1.

The list of early round KO's against world level opponents, is a bit shorter than the list of men who took him beyond five, went the distance, or even beat him. And again, the second list consists mostly of past prime fighters, inactive fighters, deconditioned fighters, or men who were never really that good to begin with...

 

Heres why I think it could be an early to mid round KO. Spoon was not a defensive minded or mobile fighter, he usually engaged his opponents. His main weapon the overhand right would not be as effective on a shorter opponent, and Tysons overall speed and skills were better.

 

Very good points.

 

His defense to the head was actually pretty tite, and in addition to the can opener, he also had a servicable jab, and knew how to work the body.. His chin was better than most as well. He wasn't a sweat scientist by any means, but he was awkward as hell. A lot of guys hated fighting him.