Tim Witherspoon vs Wladimir Klitschko

I have to question what performance by Witherspoon sticks out for me and I come up short....I did not think too much of the dedication of this era and the fans suffered...What was Spoons biggest win and against who

 

Here's the rub: Witherspoon has the skills to knock Wlad's head off ... no doubt to me .. however we have a bout between a career underachiever in Witherspoon and a Wlad who has demonstrated the mental strength to maximize his skill set ... In such a match up I have to go with Wlad but I would not bet it ...

 

You can replace "Wlad's" with "Any heavy who ever lived"... That overhand right was a wicked punch that came in at a weird angle with tons of leverage. The question is would he land it enough to win.

 

Tim in his prime lands a right hand in from rounds 2-3 and stops Vlad easily.

 

Also, problem with this fight is that Vlad and Vitali are so big. Tim was a big heavyweight in the 1980's, but compared to Vlad and Vitali he is a smaller heavyweight. But his right hand was still so solid that he would have hurt Vlad with it. I think Vitali beats a prime Tim. I always saw Tyson as the best after Larry Holmes and then you had the guys like Tubbs and Tucker and Pinklon Thomas below Mike, and between Mike and those guys was Tim... He was a little better than Tubbs and Tucker and Thomas and Bonecrusher.

 

Have you forgotten that 'Spoon almost beat Holmes in '83. That was a good performance. He shut down the Holmes jab and rocked Larry with some big right hands. Larry certainly took a better shot than Wlad. The key would be Witherspoon's ability to nulify Wlad's jab. If he could, then, Wlad's right had would be pretty useless, and Tim could come over the top with his own right hand. It wouldn't be easy because Wlad is so tall, but he's also not exactly fast, or defensively proficient. It's true that most of the 80's heavyweights were not greatly conditioned and underachieved, but they had skills.

 

I think Larry was ripe to be beaten but Tim did pull the trigger and he was pretty much consistently a fighter that did not go the extra mile. Granted he only had 15 fights but Witherspoon never really stood out or went the extra mile. I think Vlad has better size than Bone-crusher, has a jab that equals the very best. At this point in time a solid defense and a great right hand and hook. I think Vlad is a better class fighter than most of what Spoon fought and more dangerous than Holmes ...I like Vlad by a Thompson like stop

 

Tim would definitely be a live opponent for Wlad.

Would Tim beat Wlad? I don't think so, but don't count out the possibility altogether.

 

Spoon was pretty well accustomed to taking on big men and fighters of all ranging styles and description. Wlad and Vitali should both be favored to beat him, but I don't think the odds should be too heavy.

 

Not necessarily Mercer was already beaten by trial horse Ferguson, Bruno was stiff and green and open to roundhouses, Ribalta was known for his losses, Smith ordinary and Tubbs was no stand-out...I have to say Thompson, Ibragimov,Peter,Austin,Rahman,Chambers,Chagaev,Byrd,Kirk Johnson are at least as good as this batch IMO its 6 of one and half a dozen of the other

 

People really need to realise that 2010 Wlad is a very different animal to pre-2005 Wlad.

 

I see a distance fight here,with Witherspoon schooling Klitschko.