Why didn't Tyson-Witherspoon happen, and how would it go down?

I think Tyson always figured he would beat Whitherspoon in 86-90, it was just Tim could of made it a Terrible fight, and team Tyson did not want a BonecrusherII.

Whitherspoon going though the courts with the row with DKP, plus the second Bonecrusher fight meant Tyson always had a reason for the fight not to happen.

 

I think the KD in sparring was before the Douglas fight tho. I believe this was a pretty lame Tyson. LOVE the Page praise tho

 

Tyson and Spoon would've fought in '87 had Spoon not been KO'd By Bonecrusher Smith in late '86........ After Spoon got iced in 1986, Spoon's career took a big **** in the toilet until his 1991 comeback win against Carl Williams put him back on the map..... Tim Witherspoon really dicked off some prime years by being indecisive with boxing in 1987 thru 1990...... At that time, Spoon was fighting with no purpose or direction..... And by 1992, Mike Tyson was on his way to the cooler for three years...... Nuff said....

MR.BILL

 

I always thought Don King ducked Witherspoon with Mike. Remember when Bonecrusher was told by Carl King to jump on Witherspoon in Dec. of 1986? There was a tournament going on with HBO. Whoever won that fight would fight Mike on March 7, 1987.. Well Bonecrusher won the fight by first round knockout (after losing to Tim earlier in his career), so Bonecrusher fought Mike and lost. But I always thought Tim could have beaten Mike. He had all the tools to do it. My thinking is that Witherspoon would have stopped Mike in 10 back in 1987. Would have been an upset.

 

There is oten verry little sound logic to who a fighter or his team fears and their predictions of who the winners and loosers will be often look prety silly in hindsight.

Joe Louis said that the only man his team genuinely wanted no part of was Melio Bettina. Wtf!

Rocky Marciano predicted that the fighter to lift the title from him would be Charlie Powel who never amounted to much in the end.

By the same token both Bob Fitzsimmons and Joe Frazier sleepwalked into the title fights with the men who relieved them of their titles and proved to be the one man they could never beat.

So you just never know what is going through the mind of a fighter or his managers.

 

Tim Witherspoon could have been a good contender but he had zero drive by the time he would have fought Tyson, he would have been another ko victum. Even in his prime Witherspoon was no world beater, his victory over Robot Bruno was agood one by as soon as Tim threw the overhand right Bruno caught it and had no defensive answer(it was evident Bruno learned little from the Bonecrusher fight(stiff) not to say Bruno did nit have power or heart. Witherspoon was an underacheviever who smoked weed constantly and grow Mans Bobs for a lot of fights( he made Max Baer look like an overacheiver) anyway at his Best and In condition he gets KO'd by a In Shape Tyson....(when Tyson was not focused and out of conditon a very Best Witherspoon may have been able to duplicate what Buster did that night but for the most part he gets KO'd.......The 80's had talent but other than Holmes no one really had the dedication or Drive for a long period...Page,Dokes,ThOMAS MAY have been able to beat Holmes but slacked of on the training and could not be consistant for a long duration

 

Don KIng described Tim as being like a needle in a haystack.. Hard to find !!!!

This was due to a legal battle which Tim ended up winning , started by Tims losing (Oddly) to Smith by KO.. Don made Tim the man on the outside of a very busy division going through the HBO unification series.. Tim losing to Smith made him an outcast player and Tyson the front runner... BUT if losing to a partial holder pushed him out of the picture .. why wasn't Pinklon ruled out of the series after Berbick beat him? Mike beat Trevor and then Smith.. just prior to meeting Mike , Berbick had won against WBC holder Thomas, then immediately after beating Smith, Pink was re introduced into the series as a Tyson WBC & WBA defence.. Why wasn't Tim introduced even having beaten a prelim loser in Bruno..? Odd stuff..

 

stylistically Witherspoon would have been hard for Tyson to beat. Maybe had Mike swarmed him like Bonecrusher did in Dec. 1986, but if Tim were ready Mike would have had a really hard time. Tim was a little better than Tubbs and Thomas and Bonecrusher. His style was to lean and use his size, and he was pretty big for heavyweights then and could punch hard. I just think he would have been able to take what Mike gave him and lean on him and stop him late. I always thought this .Mike is lucky he did not fight Tim. And I am not really a Witherspoon fan. I think he lacked discipline, but he was good.

 

Tim would show up on Tuesday night fights, beat a Andrs Ecklund or Jeff Simms, challenge everyone and then disappear for a year and a half while he, as everyone pointed out, ate burgers and did coke.

Not a great receipe for success.

 

Don't forget a limited guy like Tony Tucker took Lewis the distance too! :good

 

Don King wasn't part of Tyson's management until 1989 was he?
Leaving aside the issue of consistency,Witherspoon would have been great with a little more explosiveness and timing in his punches.

 

Apparently you guys watched a different Tyson then I watched. Tyson was 23 when Buster Douglas knocked him out so he was in his prime. Don't give me any of this Tyson fanboy crap how he was out of shape or past his best at 23. Is Tyson this special case. no other so called top heavyweight was past his prime at 23. Don't give me how great Tony Tucker was either, Tony Tucker was limited, no to mention he fought that whole fight wtih a broken hand.

Tyson looked impressive when he fought guys who got in the ring and didn't fight back. Even a 3rd Tier fighter like Jame Tillis looked impressive against a prime Mike Tyson and you could even say he won that fight. Tyson's speed was also based on him fighting a guy who wasn't fighting back. Where was this so called speed when Douglas knocked him out? Did he lose all of his speed at the age of 23. Tyson's speed just like his power get overrated by most people like you. Most people who got in the ring with Tyson and Tommy Morrison will tell you flat out Morrison was the harder puncher. Infact I can't name one fighter who Tyson fought who was good that said Tyson punched hard at all.

Tim Witherspoon on the other hand gets overrated by his knock out over Aunder Aukland or whatever that guy name is. Even so if Witherspoon came to fight in shape and landed a good punch early Tyson would freeze up because he knew he was in with a fighter not afraid of him. If that would of happened Witherspoon would knock Tyson out in 5 rounds.

 

Tyson never lost his speed during the Douglas fights but a lack of training means that your timing is off.

For you to undermine Tyson's speed and power on the basis that his opponents would freeze up making Tyson appear faster and stronger than he really is says alot about your motives.

Name a Heavyweight at the age of 19 that would have looked better against Tillis than Tyson did.

Ruddock showed up against Tyson and landed harder punches on Tyson than Witherspoon could have ever landed yet Tyson beat him twice. It didnt matter if you were afraid of him.

Berbick, Pinklon Thomas, Biggs, Tucker, Tubbs, Ruddock, Botha, etc were not afraid.

The issue is even if a fighter was afraid- how is that Tyson's problem? Why is it somehow counted against him?


The problem with these Anti-Tyson posts is that the rhetoric is reflective of a boxing fan that wants to differentiate himself from the average fan by criticizing the mainstream aspect of boxing.

 

Let me simplify this for everyone. Witherspoon was another Tubbs and Thomas. What Tyson did to Thomas and Tubbs he would do to Witherspoon. Plain and Simple. End of Discussion.

 

Total agreement. Certain posters here like Mendoza try to put Witherspoon on this pedastool like he was "better" than Pinklon Thomas or Tony Tubbs when in fact he was not. Thomas beat him easier than Holmes did, and Tubbs gave him a near even fight. Even Bruno gave him absolute hell for 11 rounds, and Bonecrusher Smith caught him cold early with the right hand and flattned him in one. Trevor Berbick beat alot of good fighters tyson destroyed him, Tucker was talented undefeated giant who tyson nearly shutout, was witherspoon really better than these guys? I dont think he proved himself better. Just because he gave holmes a dead even scrap in 1983? Had holmes had the guts to give page, thomas, tubbs shots in 1984 I bet they give Larry dead even fights or maybe even beat him.