Witherspoon admits to throwing the Bonecrusher rematch

I agree with this statement….he knows that he didn’t give his best effort…so in his mind ..it’s best to say he threw it

 

Bunch of BS. He just got caught early and never recovered. He wasn't in shape, trained for another opponent and that's what happened.

 

Archie Moore got knocked out by guys that he had previously beaten

 

Right. It was easy to blame Don King for everything back then. Don King was trying to put on a heavyweight unification tournament. And like I mentioned in a previous thread, I've known some people who tried to become boxing promoters and they learned trying to work with a bunch of independent contractors (which boxers are) can be a nightmare, even if the promoter does everything right.

King was trying to put together this tournament. Witherspoon and Tubbs fought for the WBA belt. Witherspoon won. Failed a drug test (weed). King fights for the belt to stay with Spoon so they could stage the Bruno fight. The WBA ordered a rematch with Tubbs within the year. Tubbs was working with the guy who robbed Wells Fargo (Harold Smith), from Smith's jail cell. Tubbs claimed an injury at the last minute before the rematch because he wanted more money. Tubbs ran out of the physical. Witherspoon was smoking weed again, which was why they had to have a rematch with Tubbs to begin with. Then Spinks bolts because he doesn't want to fight Tony Tucker and can make more against Cooney. So they have to quickly wedge in a vacant IBF title fight.

It just goes on and on and on.

Stay shape. Don't get high. Don't fail your drug test. That's all on the fighter. If you agree to fight a late sub, don't show up fat, high and quit in the first round.

That's not the promoter. EVER.

 

He was lighter than against Bruno for Smith. I just wonder if the guy knows he’s lying or if he now believes the lies.

 

You didn't read his bio, which he dictated himself.

 

Why do you say it was never going to happen? Tyson didn’t want that belt?? The winner was scheduled to face Tyson.

 

Pretty much everyone.

On the Golota loss: "I wasn't really training or anything at the time, and I'm sorry to say I was high on crack before the press conference. I was also drinking. I really wasn't interested in beating Andrew. I just wanted the money so I could pay my bills and get high." (page 207)

On the Nielsen loss: "So, the fourth round came and he was throwing left-right, left-right and I went down. I got up and threw some more and I was trying to make it look good as he hit me and then I think they stopped it when I went down again. The first thing I heard after that was some woman shouting, "Hey Tim, how much have they paid you to take the fall?" And I could hear the crowd booing. I felt bad about the situation, but my reliance on drugs, and the bills I had piling up, meant I needed the money. If I didn't do it, things would have been even worse for me. I felt bad walking the streets and people looking at me, knowing I was a cheat, but I just needed the money and that's why I took the dive. It wasn't a hard fight. I could have knocked him out if I had wanted to." (page 211)

And he claims he threw the Smith fight because of Don King. "I had to make sure the three knockdown rule was in place and I took full advantage and admit to throwing the fight." (page 171)

And he claims he lost to Thomas because Don King hired Angelo Dundee to train Thomas and Slim Jim Robinson, Witherspoon's trainer, quit just before the fight because ... Don King wasn't paying Tim enough? (according to Tim).

UH. Um. It's not because Tim was on drugs. Or Tim wasn't training. Or Tim was screwing up. Or Tim wasn't paying Slim, because ThE FIGHTER PAYS THE TRAINER.

No, Tim says he couldn't figure out how to beat Thomas during the fight, because Slim left, because Don King ... mumble, mumble, something, something.

Tim says he lost to Everett Martin, even though he was supposed to fight Michael Moorer next for the WBO belt, because Dennis Rappaport said something bad about Moorer to a reporter, and then the judges read it, and then the judges took it out on Witherspoon. It's not because Witherspoon wasn't prepared.

Regarding the Savarese loss: "It was the first time in history I was properly stopped. The other times I had gone down or lost were for money, or to better my own life. I wish I could say I saw my life flashing before my eyes but I didn't see any of that. I was a little off balance and it was a flash knockdown and the fight was over."

I'm not going to rekey a book (it's not so much a book as a long transcript of an interview ... poorly written ... don't buy it), but that's basically the entirety of the book. If he lost, he didn't really want to win or someone was out to get him. Or he was high. Or Don King did it ... even though Don King was only his promoter for five years in his 24-year career.

It was all Don King's fault. Don King didn't give him drugs, make him spend all his money on drugs, get him fat, make him lazy ... make everyone who worked for him give up on him.

He'd rather admit to losing on purpose than admit he straight up lost to anyone ... except Savarese. (And when he describes the loss to Lou, he doesn't even admit he was that hurt.) He just CAN'T admit he lost.

Even in his rematch with Greg Page in 1999, he says: "When the fight started, we were exchanging punches and I noticed something wrong with Greg. I hit him and saw he was motionless but I couldn't finish him off because of my back. I hit him a couple times and I said to myself: This guy doesn't need to be fighting any more. I gave him the fight. I wanted to go in and finish up but my back just wouldn't let up. I was happy for him in a way. It was hard for Greg, too, he was another one who had to deal with Don King."

STILL blaming Don King more than a dozen years after they split, for losses in fights where he admits he quit.

 

This content is protected

 

He didn't throw any thing ... he beat Smith from pillar to post with ease in their first fight .. really pulverized him .. Smith showed a ton of heart by going the distance .. in the rematch Tim as completely bananas over King robbing him blind he was not focused or motivated but Smith , knowing his only shot was to get him early, came out storming and literally caught him with the first shot and Tim never recovered ... he couldn't get his balance back and the three knockdown rule ended his reign.