Tim Witherspoon vs. the following 90s fighters:

I would be able to reply to this if it was the Tim of the Holmes fight, which to me was by far the best he ever was.

 

In his prime I would only make Tyson, Lewis and Holyfield clear favorites over him. But As he was in the 90’s, the list of men who would beat him gets a bit longer

 

I think prime Spoon has a good chance at beating both Holyfield and Lewis.

 

In an upset perhaps but I doubt many would make him a favorite in those fights

 

It's hard for me to be too impressed by Witherspoon against Mercer. Not just because Mercer had his buttocks handed to him by Holmes...nah, that's mostly the reason lol. Mercer was a good fighter, but...

Holmes-era Witherspoon:

Michael Grant- Ko in 5
Michael Moorer- ko in 10
Mike Tyson- ko by 6 (see George Foreman for elucidation)
1992 George Foreman- Ko by 8. I realize Smith caught Tim on a bad day with that 1st round ko, but if Smith ko'd him...
Evander Holyfield- L UD
Bert Cooper-KO 7
David Tua- Ko by 10
Razor Ruddock- W ko 9
Lennox Lewis- pre-Steward Tim wins SD; Steward-era Ko by 8
Frank Bruno II- Ko in 8
Hasim Rahman- Ko in 7
Shannon Briggs- ko in 9
Bruce Seldon- Ko in 3
Tommy Morrison- Ko in 5
Oliver McCall- Wins SD where both land some nice bombs
Riddick Bowe- Tim doesn't last 6 rounds

 

The revisionist glorification of Spoon is right on time.

As someone who actually lived thru that era, and who actually really liked Timmy, he would consistently break your heart. He would lose to a lot of these guys.

 

I hate people who step in and sabotage the entire premise of a thread, but, when it comes to Witherspoon, I am that guy, because he was so inconsistent, that it is just impossible to say.

I would think that on his best day, he beats any outside of prime Tyson or Holyfield (then again, Tyson's prime was done by the 90s). But his best days were few and far between and, it it really depends on what percentage of Terrible Tim shows up.

By the way, they offered Big George a fight, and he declined, so, as much as I like Foreman, it shows you how much they respected the man's abilities despite his need for a nutritionist and a twelve-step sponsor.

 

Maybe, also he beat Bruno in `86 so there`s no reason he couldn`t have beaten him for the same reason in the 90`s, also Spoon looked flabby against Bruno, a slimmer spoon would have been sharper.

 

McCall had very bad fundamentals.

 

As an aside, I'm surprised he got his title shot against Larry Holmes. In August 1982 he was scheduled to fight Quick Tillis on national TV, but he pulled out at the last minute, apparently over a dispute with Don King. He was inactive for nearly a year going into the Holmes fight.

At his best, Witherspoon gives anyone trouble and beats all but the very best. At his worst he loses to guys like Bonecrusher Smith and Everette Martin and takes way too much time off.

 

Smith was far better than Everett Martin considering an aging shot Smith destroyed him.(Honorable mention the old Foreman
couldn't knock out Martin but Smith did.)

 

Best version of Witherspoon vs best version of:

Michael Grant - KO1
Michael Moorer - KO10
Mike Tyson - LUD12
1992 George Foreman - WMD12
Evander Holyfield - LUD12
Bert Cooper - TKO 7
David Tua - WUD12
Razor Ruddock - KO2
Lennox Lewis - LUD12
Hasim Rahman - TKO7
Shannon Briggs - KO5
Bruce Seldon - KO1
Tommy Morrison- KO 5
Oliver McCall - WUD
Riddick Bowe - LTKO9