Why did he retire? Looks like he was on a good promotional track early in his career, fighting in Vegas and Atlantic City, then reverted to just fighting in Canada, had his lone loss to hard punching Bert Cooper (no shame), won five more fights punctuated by a victory over Henry Tillman and retired at 27. Seems like his heart wasn't into it. Or did he just have a low ceiling. Or a weak mandible.... Anyone follow him back in the day?
DeWit played football in high school and was an all-star quarterback. He was offered a scholarship to the University of Alberta, but decided to quit football after he began learning how to box at a Grande Prairie health club which was run by a man named Jim Murrie. Impressed with his dedication and size, Murrie introduced deWit to Dr. Harry Snatic, a dentist and rancher who had been a youth boxing coach in Louisiana before moving his family in 1971 to Beaverlodge, a small town near Grande Prairie. He worked out with deWit three times a week, first in the health club, and then in the deWit's unheated garage where temperatures would often get to 10 or 20 degrees below zero. In 1987, DeWit lost his father, Len de Wit, and younger brother, Theo, who was 23 at the time, in a plane crash that killed 4 people in total. The plane, a Cessna210, crashed into a forested area and exploded near Grande Prairie, Alberta. not much, but that’s all I know.
Not sure what the driving force for his retirement was but he went to law school and became an attorney.
Probably not. Their last names are spelled differently (Doug DeWitt and Willie De Wit), and one's American while the other's Canadian.
Similar career trajectory to John Collins who was destroyed by the first big puncher in he faced in Tony Sibson and never the same afterwards.
Willie won five straight fights after the Cooper loss, including a decision victory over Henry Tillman (whom he lost to in the 84 Olympic final). Willie was rated in the WBA top ten at the time and was in line for a title fight. Prior to the Tillman fight, he decided that if he did not knock him out, he would retire as he figured he would not be competitive against the top heavys if he could not stop Tillman. Willie was a strong bodypuncher but he carried only about 210 to 215 lbs on a 6'2 frame. He may have benefited from a 200lb Cruiserweight division. Fun fact: deWitt had previously beaten Tillman twice before their Olympic finals fight.
Interesting, using Tillman as a measuring stick. Obviously the guy had some brains, went on to be lawyer.
His American managers were not happy he retired at the time as they were in line for a title fight and he was 20-1-1 with 14 KOs. They were probably hoping for a payday against Tyson.
