Tim handled Holmes pretty good, I thin he beats Tyson. He was very slick at times, had power and ring smarts.
I see Spoon giving Tyson some real problems, but not to the extent that he beats him. Problems that Thomas posed for Tyson, a savvy operator with power and ability who's coming to fight. It would take one helluvan effort for Tyson to get Spoon out of there but Tyson was the man who could do it. Tyson KO 6
Holmes hit Witherspoon clean quiet a bit. Holmes didn't have near the speed or power of Tyson. I just picture a ko at some point. More like a Berbick type fight
Tyson by decision or late stoppage. Tim would give him some problems along the way and assuming he was in shape and motivated.
Tyson/Witherspoon would have been fun. But as for his 'shape' vs Smith; I think some forget Bonecrusher was a very late sub, Terrible Tim was 'preparing' for a Tubbs rematch, and probably thought (rightly) he could get away with doing a half ****d job doing so.
witherspoon is a much underrated fighter but I think Tyson could have outpointed him.one thing's for sure, witherspoon would have stayed at the top longer without don fookin king.
Witherspoon might have taken a dive vs Smith for Don King in 1986 to make a future match with Tyson unlikely. I find it odd that his house was robbed the night of the fight, and Witherpsoon was iced from title shots in the mid 1980's. Witherpsoon was sharp as a razor in 1987. See his fight with Mike Williams ( Then undefeated ) in October 1987. Very impressive, and you could see why team Tyson didn't want to risk their golden goose.
If he did take a dive, it was dumb. He looked woefully out of shape for the Smith fight and I think he just was not prepared mentally or physically. I believe he was upset with King for not paying him what was promised. He broke with King after the Smith debacle and never got a title shot again.
I don't know if it was a fix but Witherspoon was not in shape. He got caught by a good punch right after the bell rang and he never recovered. Let's pretend that he walks away with another win over Smith instead of what really happened. Now, let's assume he gets in the best shape of his career and comes well prepared for WBC HW Champ Mike Tyson in 1987. Witherspoon is 4" taller with a 7" reach advantage. They would both weigh around 220 Lbs. WBA Champ Witherspoon is 26-2 (17) overall (pretending that he got another decision over Smith) and 4-2 (1) in world title fights. He lost a split-decision to Larry Holmes in his 16th pro fight for the HW World title and he lost a majority-decision to Pinklon Thomas when he lost the WBC belt. He has wins over Ratliff KO7, Snipes W10, Cummings W10, Tillis KO1, Page W12, Broad KO2, Smith W12 x2, Tubbs W15, and Bruno KO11. WBC Champ Tyson is 28-0 (26) overall and 1-0 (1) in world title fights. He has wins over Ferguson KO6, Tillis W10, Green W10, Ribalta KO10, Ratliff KO2, and Berbick KO2. They had several common opponents- Savarese, Nielsen, Golota, Ribalta, Smith, Bruno, Tubbs, Sammy Scaff, Thomas, Tillis, Holmes, Snipes, and Ratliff. Anyway, as good as Witherspoon could be, I'll still take Tyson by KO. Witherspoon would win some rounds but Tyson's speed and explosiveness would be the difference.
Perhaps he was out of shape because he was taking a dive? King controlled the division, and Witherspoon was essentially blackballed. But after this result, he became free and worked his way back past his prime in the 1990's