Witherspoon, like Fabio Wardley, is a fighter well known for his lack of amateur experience before entering the professional game. But unlike Wardley, does he have what it takes to beat Dubois? Personally, I think so. I think the closest historical comparison to Dubois is Frank Bruno: stiff but powerful boxers, perceived mental weaknesses, questionable chins to some people, but dangerous punchers. Though I rate Dubois higher than Bruno overall. And Witherspoon KO'ed Bruno in a boxing match that was not as competitive as most people say. On the other hand, Witherspoon got brutally knocked out by Bonecrusher Smith in one round and always seemed vulnerable against punchers. So I would lean around 60/40 toward a Witherspoon win (probably on points), though I’m a pretty big Dubois fan myself, so I might be biased. Who do you guys think wins this fight?
Witherspoon would probably win in the states with a fair ref not allowing Dirty D to foul like crazy. But of course he could get clipped. I wouldn't be surprised if he broke him down with the jab like Joyce did.
Witherspoon was the more skilled but DDD has the better resume. I always say with Terrible Tim that character matters, and if his legacy is tarnished because he showed up fat and strung out, is what it is. Either-way fight.
Witherspoon wins by TKO. He was a highly skilled fighter with a good defence, good jab, and a very dangerous overhand right. This is a fighter that gave a near prime Holmes the fight of his life. I know Witherspoon got blasted out once by Bonecrusher. But he wasn't mentally or physically right due to getting screwed out of his money by Don King. So he basically turned up with no real motivation or desire. Other than that Witherspoon normally did respectable against big punchers. He battered Bonecrusher from pillar to post in their 1st meeting. Stopped Bruno who has similarities to Dubois having a heavy jab and a KO right hand. Beat other notable punchers like Jeff Sims, Jumbo Cummings. I know Witherspoon could sometimes not always be 100 percent in all his fights and was sometimes lazy. But a prime Witherspoon IMO would have too much for Dubois. Witherspoon would parry Dubois's jab with his cross arm defence, walk him down, and then start to land his own jab. And then he finally finds a home for that dangerous overhand right and stops Dubois in the 10th round of a good fight.
Good fight. I like the chances of the Witherspoon that stopped Frank Bruno. But, it could go either way and it would be a hard competitive fight.
Does Dubois really have a better resume ? Ok Joshua is the best single win of the two fighters. But I think Witherspoon has more depth to his resume. Witherspoon's best wins Tony Tubbs Greg Page Frank Bruno Bonecrusher Smith Renaldo Snipes Carl Williams Mike Williams Jorge Luis Gonzalez Jeff Sims Jumbo Cummings
I would agree with more depth, but then again, Dubois is 28 and will undoubtedly add a lot more names.
I think Witherspoon underachieved. But he was a top 10 rated Heavyweight between 1982-1996. And I think during that period of 14 years he only fell out of the top 10 for like 2 years So he did stay relevant for atleast just over a decade which is quite impressive. Do you know what I think ? You know after his falling out with Don King ? I don't think he was ever going to get a big fight ever again after that. I do think he could've fought Tyson between 88-90 as I believe he was rated top 5 at the time. I also think he could've fought Holyfield or possibly Foreman in the 90s. It is a shame he missed out on a few big fights and I think that might of been down to Don King.
Not for nothing but an in shape Tim was pretty darn good at nullifying jabs. He had that Philly style, that hand was always there to parry the jab. He gave Holmes a hellava fight.
I think James Broad and Al Cole are worth adding to the list, too. Yeah, he WAY underachieved. When he came back and knocked out Ecklund on Tuesday Night Fights, a lot of us were hoping he would follow it up and get a shot at Tyson. Of course that went south on both ends.
