Witherspoon beats Bone crusher in 86... And challenges Mike Tyson in March of 87

Like I've said before, by this time Tyson was a feared and respected puncher, as well as a good boxer. However, Spoon would be at his best for this fight. Spoon was much different than Tyson's previous opponents: he was stronger and tougher than most of them. Also, Tim was very hard to land on. Spoon's defense would confuse Tyson. I think in the 80s, Spoon would have more success slugging it out with Tyson than anyone else. I still say Tyson wins. It's very unlikely that an in-shape, prepared Spoon could get knocked out by Tyson or anybody else. I have Tyson winning an exciting fight by being the more aggressive fighter.

 

Tim’s style, power, chin and sizable arm reach would make him a very tough fight for Tyson. In the end I’d pick mike to win but witherspoon would probably end up being the best man he fought around that time.

 

It's interesting to remember that this fight could have been made when Tyson was wasting everybody's time against Tony Tubbs.
I think Witherspoon would have given Tyson tremendous problems. He was crafty, he slipped a shot well and had a terrific defence alternating between turtle shell, open gloves and cross arms.
Tim also had fast hands and good power at long range.
I think the Tyson of 87 outworks Witherspoon for a scrappy UD. The Tyson of Tokyo gets banged faster than Douglas did him.

 

Tyson KO2. Tim doesn't last any longer than Tubbs or Williams. Tim was a quitter. He'd have been intimidated by Tyson and folded in the first or second. We didn't miss anything.

 

I see Mike being a nightmare for Tim, where someone like Holyfield would be right up Tim's alley.

 

The Smith fight revealed that Tim would fall when hit hard enough. I think Mike would have overwhelmed him in 3.

 

Witherspoon is stopped before the 6th round. That cross armed defense won't work against the punches this opponent throws. And Tim would get caught clean too many times when he backed up---not something he was very good at. And he is not backing up Tyson during the early rounds of a fight

 

Bingo.

 

Tyson was better than Tim by `87 in every facet of the game, he stops Tim or out-points him.

 

One thing´s for sure: That couple of rounds would be more watchable than 12 of Bonehugging...

 

It would be a rough fight for Mike Tyson, provided Terrible Tim Witherspoon comes in at the best shape he could be. Tim has the overhand right hands that put Frank Bruno away in 1986. The defense of Witherspoon gave Larry Holmes problems in 1983. After a back and forth affair, Mike takes this one by close but unanimous decision.

 

I disagree with the outcome. I think Spoon goes the way of someone like Pinklon Thomas. Gets rocked early, weathers the storm, has some moments, shows some grit and durability and ultimately gets knocked out a bit past the midway point.