Do you consider Tim Withersoon an ATG?

Absolutely not nowhere near it.

 

Excellent contender…not an ATG. He’s a top tier contender though.

 

Great fighter, two time champion, not an ATG.

 

Alphabet belt holder. Champion of nothing.

 

"All hail Tim Witherspoon, prince of nothing."

 

Very good not great and certainly not close to an ATG.

2 time world champion good wins over Greg Page, Bonecrusher Smith, Renaldo Snipes, James Tillis, Frank Bruno, Tony Tubbs, Carl Williams.

Disputed losses to ATG Larry Holmes and Ray Mercer who I think Witherspoon actually beat. And that would've been a nice win for Witherspoon especially since Mercer was coming off almost beating Lewis.

All in all Witherspoon ranks as a top 10 Heavyweight of the 80s, and probably top 30-35 Heavyweight of all time.

As I said originally he falls a bit short of being a great and he certainly isn't close to an ATG but hes a very good Heavyweight and at his best rates quite highly H2H aswell I think.

 

The Mercer win was definitely a robbery, I guess they were fine taking it from Mercer against Ferguson but not against Witherspoon (Would've loved to see those two fight as well).
I do think he's a lock in for the top 3 in the 80s, and real high up there head to head, would've loved to see him clash against an early Lennox.

 

He's miles off being great. DP has it right as usual, "very good".

 

I voted no. But at one point he was looking like a borderline case. He was ranked in ring’s top 10 for a combined 11 years and was a two time world belt holder - a feat that was still pretty uncommon in those days. He beat a fairly long list of relevant men in the 80s and 90s as well. But he never captured lineage and failed to rise to the occasion at times when it was critical. Still a very good fighter though

 

Just out of curiosity since you’ve mentioned your ranking of Tim in the 1980s a couple of times, I assume you see Holmes and Tyson as 1-2 (in whatever order) in that decade? I think we would all agree that there’s a pretty significant gap between 2 and 3 in that case, and a smaller gap between 3-4-5 (however many you put on the next tier).

I’m not sure I agree Tim stands above the others but wonder how you see the 3-4-5 tier (and possibly a couple on that level depending on your viewpoint) and why you think Witherspoon stands tallest after the obvious top two over the others.

 

I've got it:
Holmes
Tyson
Witherspoon
Weaver
Berbick
This is mostly a head to head list, but I think that it can stand solidly as a list when it comes to records, too. Witherspoon had the best list of wins apart from the top two and won the title twice, and I think that Berbick isn't too far behind after him with the best wins, Tate, Page, Bey, Thomas, and Green- But I do I prefer Weaver's wins, Tate, Coetzee, Tillis, Dokes (He won that supposed draw), Williams, and Du Plooy.

 

I wouldn’t really argue it either way on who ranks next behind Holmes and Tyson, although to me I’d probably lean Weaver as he was around and relevant longer than most of the other top ‘80s heavies.

 

Weaver was the man.

 

He was for sure a full-grown man. I bet he started shaving when he was 3 years old.