Could the Tim Witherspoon who lost to Larry Holmes on May 30, 1983, beat the version of Michael Dokes who drew with Mike Weaver on that same night?
Absolutely I think he'd beat both the Weaver and Dokes versions of that night. He may have even beat Page, but if Page moved and boxed, he would have a good shot at outpoing Witherspoon. Page was 227 that night, 12.5 pounds lighter than when he actually fought Witherspoon in early '84. Dokes would have been the easiest of those three opponents that night.
Very very very little chance Witherspoon would stop Dokes imo. Dokes had a fine chin and took plenty of big bombs from Weaver without faltering. The Coetzee fight is an outlier given the cocaine binge.
Well, Dokes had coke problems even before he won the title over Weaver in Dec. 82. But, yeah Dokes did take some good shots against Weaver in the second fight and it was fought in the heat of the day. Witherspoon got to fight later in the day against Holmes when it was much cooler. Tim would have to conserve energy if it was fought in the daytime heat and he would probably win, but by decision. Dokes was gassing badly against Weaver and it appeared to me that Weaver should have gotten the decision.
It appears so. He was a slow starter and pretty methodical. He seemed to have good late round stamina, as evinced by his 15th round ko of Tate, 13th round ko of Coetzee and 15 round decision over James "Quick" Tillis. He much fresher than Dokes in the late rounds of the rematch. Of course, Dokes already had a coke problem which combined with the heat could have affected his stamina.
Dokes did have problems with coke pre Weaver and they peaked a couple of days prior to him entering the ring vs Coetzee. He looked terrible in there. Good point on the temperature too. Witherspoon also fought Holmes over 12 where as Weaver and Dokes fought 15 - big big difference. It would have been fair for Weaver to get the decision, absolutely. I wouldn't call it a "robbery" but i agree Weaver should have pipped a close one. Unofficial AP scorecard: 143-142 Weaver Unofficial UPI scorecard: 144-142 Weaver Unofficial L.A. Times scorecard: 143-142 Weaver
Besides the win over Bruno,... Witherspoon barely ever knocked out many contenders... he had some great KOs over mid level guys but not many top guys...Still think he was very talented..
