Tim Witherspoon vs David Tua

Interestingly enough, on the night that Tua KO'd John Ruiz within seconds, Larry Merchant threw out Tim Witherspoon's name to Lou Duva when asking him who he felt Tua was ready to beat... Duva, who had sounded so confident about claiming that Tua would dominate anyone in the division, stalled for a moment and finally said " no problem. "

Had these two fought, say around 1996 when Tua was a rising prospect, I don't think Tim would have won. He certainly did not have the ability to stop David and would have taken a lot of hard shots over many rounds to make winning a decision a difficult proposition. If tim was in his prime ( a difficult time frame to gauge ), he might have surprised Tua and outpointed him in a close fight, but I say this with no real conviction...

 

I think even in 95/96 Terrible Tim would of got the job done. The Tua going life and death with Izon and Maskaev would struggle with Witherspoon, and although past his best, I do not see Witherspoon blowing a lead or getting KO'd late in a close fight like Oleg and David.

 

I have no doubt that Witherspoon would take this by a comfortable decision. I think Tua was a great puncher but very overrated on ESB.

 

Good post,

Looks like we concur on most of our views, but I'm still not entirely certain that Spoon would have won this fight, even in his prime.....

My prediction is that its probably about a 50/50 chance of the outcome going either way. You have to remember that Spoon did not always win some of his biggest fights, and even when he did, barely squeaked by...

 

Tua would have his hands full with Spoon. A younger fitter Tua gives anyone hell, but even at his best he showed he could be outboxed for most of the fight by lessor fighters than Witherspoon.
Would be interesting to see if Spoon could fight a displined fight for 12 rounds and not engage Tua. Tough call, Spoon outboxes Tua easy, if he makes a mistake he gets knocked out.

 

Tim, at his best, decisions David.If not David probably edges him.Either way, Tim is not hurting David.

 

It's hard to give even a prime Tua a great shot against any tough large boxer/puncher like Spoon. He just struggled with too many lesser talents and was forced on several occasions to make dramatic come from behind rallies to get his man out of there. Hard to see him doing that against Tim.

 

Spoon in his prime outboxes him. No stoppage because Tua is ****ing tough, and built like a tank. I have enough confidence in Spoon's chin to last 12 rounds.

 

Tim outboxes Tua..

 

Witherspoon wins this by clear decision

 

Tua had two careers, pre and post Ike ... the fight w Ike was an exceptionally brutal fight and Tua never was the same in his training or intensity ... the man who fought Ike could have possibly outpointed the often under motivated, poorly conditioned , maybe ... however the safest bet is Witherspoon by decision ...

 

Witherspoon has more boxing ability,enough strength, and a very strong chin, that would enable him to score a decision win over Tua.

 

Witherspoon by a wide decision.

Tua was a very limited fighter, vastly overrated.