Would you pick Tim Witherspoon to beat any all time greats?

No. But for a while he was the best contender out there and came the closest to beating ATG Holmes.

Deserves respect as a true warrior.

:smoke:smoke

 

He has a shot against Jimmy Wilde.

 

Ooh that was going to be my line?! :huh :?

I had Spoon whooping Holmes quite clearly - and like others have kind of stated, on his best nights he's up there with Jack Sharkey in my book - he wouldn't respect reputations thats for sure

 

Uh, hell no.

 

On a decent night i'd put a few hundred on him vs Dempsey, no doubt.

 

Id favour him to beat Patterson and Baer.

 

At his best he could have given any HW trouble. 6'3 1/2" with a 78" reach and 220+Lbs... he knew how to fight "big". He never looked undersized in the ring. He had a stiff jab, good footwork and head movement, and a powerful right hand. He could do all things well in the ring. He was also durable.

In just his 16th pro fight he lost a split-decision to a prime Holmes. He crushed a still well respected Tillis in the 1st round. He easily outboxed Bonecrusher Smith in their first fight. He broke Bruno down and stopped him in the 11th. His decision wins over Page and Tubbs were dull but he did enough to win (both were majority decisions). He should have been able to decision Thomas but he gave the fight away in the late rounds (he lost by majority-decision).

While a bit past prime he won close decisions over veterans Ribalta (MD10 and Carl Williams (SD10).

He was out of shape in many fights but usually still got the win. In 1992 an out of shape 34 1/2 year old Witherspoon couldn't get the job done vs. "far from great" Everett Martin (LSD10).

He came back strong in 1994 and went on to win 5 in a row (all by KO) vs. some lower level fighters.

In 1996 he looked great winning a shut out vs. Al Cole. (Cole was 27-1 at the time and had not lost in over 5 years). That same year he crushed Jorge Gonzalez, stopping him in the 5th. He capped off the year with a fight vs. Mercer. The fight with Mercer was good but Witherspoon came up a little short and ended any thoughts of getting another HW World Title shot.

After the loss to Mercer, Witherspoon was hot and cold. He often fought with injuries but even in most of the losses he fought well. Some notable good performances are-

WMD10 E. Castillo, LSD10 Barrett, KO2 D. Wilson, and W10 A. Abdin.

 

so... who could he have beat?

Sullivan- yes
Corbett- yes
Fitzsimmons- yes
Jeffries- yes
Burns- yes
Hart- yes
Johnson- probably not, but he'd give him a very tough fight
Willard- yes
Dempsey- probably not, Dempsey's workrate would be a problem
Tunney- no, Tunney would do just enough to win by not engaging in a real fight

to be continued

 

Haven't seen much of 'Spoon, but this seems very reasonable to me.

 

I would say that his trilogy with the greatest of alltime alone would render him worthy of consideration.


As regards the thread question, IMO, he DID beat prime Holmes.
So yes he could beat some ATGs.

 

Terrible Tim is capable of pulling an upset against ATG heavies. Just like Buster Douglas. He had talent but he didn't utilized it enough.

As for Norton, for me he beat Ali 3 times and is ATG fighter.

 

He was not avoided. He had his chance to secure a fight with Tyson and he blew it, literally too, by being blown away in round 1 by the BoneCrusher. Smith simply ran him over. The winner of that fight was gonna face Tyson. Of course it would be better if it was Tim, that way we'd have another classic Tyson KO to put in the higlight reels. :yep