Witherspoon replacing dokes against holyfield and Bowe?

If were talking about the Spoon that fought Holmes then its 50/50 for me.
I gotta think about possible outcomes and come back.

 

Tim Witherspoon would've been coming off a 10-round split decision win over journeyman Larry Alexander in 1989 (before meeting prime Holyfield) and an uninspired decision loss to Bigfoot Martin and a dull 10-round decision over Tony Wills before meeting a prime Bowe.

Frankly, I don't see Witherspoon doing even as well as Michael Dokes did in either fight had he replaced Dokes.

Witherspoon wasn't on their (Bowe and Holyfield's) level.

I don't even know if Witherspoon was on Buster Douglas' level, to be honest.

 

He would've done better than Dokes, at least against Bowe. Witherspoon was a contender until the mid 90s and had a much better resume than Dokes. He'd probably get in shape for a top opponent.

 

People spent the better part of 20 years saying ... "If Tim just got himself in shape ..."

In 1989, Tim Witherspoon was struggling with the Larry Alexanders of the world. He wasn't going to knock off Holyfield. And he certainly wasn't going to outpoint him.

 

In the months leading up to the Bowe fight, Dokes had beaten Jesse Ferguson and Jose Ribalta.

Going into a Bowe fight, Witherspoon would've been coming off a 10-round decision loss to Bigfoot Martin and he would've gone 10 rounds with Tony Willis (who was a light heavyweight) and James Pritchard (a cruiserweight who lasted 18 seconds in a cruiser title fight the year before).

Witherspoon WASN'T better than Dokes going into 1993. Tim was supposed to fight Moorer for the WBO belt, and lost his tuneup to Bigfoot Martin.

Dokes looked a helluva lot better fighting Ferguson and Ribalta in 1992 than Spoon did against guys like Martin and Wills.

 

Ferguson and Ribalta were nonfactors at that point. Witherspoon would've been about two years before regaining his form in 95. I'll use my imagination and say he could've lasted past one round with Bowe, possibly giving him a tough fight. Holyfield made everyone look good, but Dokes turned in a pretty good performance so I don't know if Witherspoon would exceed it. He might.

 

I didn't realize Larry Alexander, Bigfoot Martin and Tony Willis WERE factors?

The question is how would Witherspoon do in March 1989 against Holyfield and in January 1993 against Bowe ... against two young all-time greats at about their best.

How would that Witherspoon do? The answer is NOT VERY WELL AT ALL.

 

Hard to say. spoon was a very dangerous fighter when in the mood .Tubbs gave bowe a hard fight so could Timmy .may beat bowe if bowe is not at the top of his game.Holy had very hard fights with Dokes and stuart Tim was more dangerous than them which is why fighters avoided him .To risky.

 

Tony Tubbs wouldn't have given the Riddick Bowe who knocked out Michael Dokes in 1993 any problems. That's the Bowe who Tim Witherspoon would've met in this scenario.

And who avoided Tim Witherspoon? He fought everyone. Holmes, Thomas, Page (twice), Tubbs, Bonecrusher (twice), Bruno, Tillis, Snipes, The Truth Williams, Mercer, Golota, Donald, Thunder, Savarese.

He was supposed to fight Tyson, but got stopped by Smith. He was supposed to fight Moorer, but lost to Bigfoot. He was supposed to fight Holmes again in the 1990s but got stopped by Page.

Nobody seemed to have a problem fighting Tim Witherspoon ... you guys can keep saying he was "too risky," but nobody else at the time did.