What is your theory on Witherspoon-Bonecrusher 2?

While he was under the Kings, Tim had every reason to believe that he would see little to no money from a Tyson fight.

 

It was pretty much 3), greatly facilitated by 1)

The bout was steeped in controversy from start-to-finish and beyond...
...resulting in an investigation conducted by the State Inspector General.

Witherspoon simply didn't show up (and Smith knew this).
When you enter the ring with a caveman, not caring whether you win or lose, you're going to get paneled.
Smith saw his chance and took it with both fists (fair play to him).

But... ...plenty of other half-decent heavies would have beaten Spoon that night.

It's well documented that Tim was relieved by the loss that severed his ties to the Kings, once and for all.

 

I spoke to Witherspoon a bit, nice guy, really open with sharing his knowledge, I can’t remember all the messages but the jist of it was he most regrets not looking after himself properly with both management and his health / training, mentally he probably didn’t want to be there that night, got caught and found a soft spot on the canvas.

 

Both landed powerful punches. Smith entered the fight better and more decisively. This is a heavyweight. There's nothing surprising here.