By Terence Dooley
In asking what could have been, we sometimes find that we value a fighter anew, in our critical pondering we look at what could have been and also appreciate what they achieved.
If he had done nothing else in boxing Tim Witherspoon would have been fondly remembered as a 15 fight novice who came in from nowhere and gave Larry Holmes, a great Larry Holmes, innumerable problems. That night in 1983 Tim looked the heir apparent and it was easy to see why. At 6’31/2, with solid shoulders plus a great defense honed at the same camp Ali and Holmes trained at coupled with counter punching crispness as Tim not only gave Holmes the fight of his life but also gave us fans a tantalising glimpse of post-Holmes consistency.
Yet despite two further world-title challenges, Witherspoon never made the most of what came so easy to him. As time wore on you had to ask what had happened to the kid with1950’s skills to reduce him to a mere player on the dissolute heavyweight scene of the 1980’s and a non-starter for the greatness that seemed to be there for him to adopt like a mantle. What could have been for Tim Witherspoon and why did it not come to fruition?
If you love boxing you have to love Tim Witherspoon; 78” reach, a great chin, perfect poise and innate endowment; if Tim saw you drop your right he’d whip in a left hook; if you dropped your left he’d piston in a right hand. Once inside Tim would duck slightly and grip his own shoulder to affect that often imitated rarely perfected cross-arm guard; outside he’d dip his knees and pop in a cruise missile jab. He had all this, he was tough as hell and he was from Philly, yet he never dominated the chaotic, wasteful but ultimately quality-filled post-Holmes era.
Scoring retrospectively I had the Holmes fight a draw and by then Holmes was on his way to jabbing his way to greatness, Tim got highly praised for his endeavour in losing. He followed his personal success with a win before making his move on James “Quick” Tillis for the NABF title; Tillis had the heavyweight equivalent of a hard hat award after surviving ten rounds with Earnie Shavers; after just under of 3 minutes in a ring with Tim Tillis was taken out of the fight.
Witherspoon, the understudy who had excelled for a one-off performance was waiting in the wings for that old ham Holmes to abdicate. Coronation came with a comprehensive win over the skilful Greg Page and the Witherspoon era had begun; unfortunately so had the fug of drugs and complacency that would haunt the 1980’s lost generation, a group that included Tim in its number.
King for a year Tim fell in a single night, the young accomplished soloist was dictated to by the magic wand jab of Pinklon Thomas and in his first defense Tim was dethroned.
That familiar tune began, the parlour game started and we played “Guess that weight” with Tim. 230lbs, 233, 235 and a quick burst of finesse to get to 227 and snatch the WBA heavyweight title from Tony Tubbs. Despite all his excess outside the ring, for all the haze of mediocrity that descended on Tim, he could still climb through the ropes and box delightfully at times.
A fight with Frank Bruno, in which Tim earned next to nothing for risking his title abroad, would see Tim back up in weight and ripped off by Don King; Tim must have clutched his payslip for that fight in bruised hands then looked at the real figure with broken, puffed-up eyes and shook his head, this is boxing in the 1980’s baby. In his next fight, versus a man he’d already beaten, Tim was dropped three times in the first by James Smith who went onto fight Mike Tyson.
Imagine a crazy scenario; innate flaws in the character of Tim had derailed him when he should have been standing on the tracks ready to derail the Tyson express, which itself was essentially unsound. A good jab, sublime defense at times, inside skills and decent power; all he needed was the Lennox Lewis ice or the Holyfield fire to blaze Tyson aside and fulfil that post-Holmes promise. I think Tim would have destroyed Tyson in a great fight; Smith was not the same calibre as Tim and the man from Philly may just have repealed the man from Brooklyn with his size and skills.
Tim subsequently toiled in hidden heavyweight fields as he dug for his former promise and showed resolve outside the ring to go toe-to-toe with Don King. As he grew older his maturity enabled him to finesse his way to wins over Al Cole and the once touted Jorge Luis Gonzalez; he clashed with Ray Mercer in an Indian summer match only to emerge a loser, at times he had made Mercer look jaded but years of weight fluctuations and bad living could not be compensated for.
The Mercer fight had been a final insolent stand before the decision defeats came in sequence versus men such as Larry Donald and Andrew Golota, then the decisions became stoppages and Tim had fallen so far from his potential that only his flashes of defensive skills made it worth watching. Tim could still beat the odd decent man such as Darroll Wilson; it was like he was mocking us with fantasies of what could have been.
What could have been is a principal post-Holmes heavyweight and a true test for a peak Mike Tyson. A big, strong fighter who has the jab of a welterweight, a tight defense, solid punching and subtle skills coupled with a once granite chin. Tim could have bestridden the 1980’s like a behemoth trouncing other big men for immense acclaim. In the end he wasted his skills and although it may be odd to say that about a two-time world champ it is snapped into focus when you consider that he reigned for a combined total of two years and made one sole successful defense of his title. His skilful defiance of decline and a brief late-career renaissance redeemed him as we got to see a snapshot of what he once was.
Witherspoon squandered his skills and betrayed his talent for the wanderlust of the 1980’s but at the end he made amends, like Judas the betrayer he came good in the end. He could have been great though, really great. If he saw a gap he’d exploit it, if he saw a wall he’d make a chink in it, once he made the chink he’d pick the right shot.
Tim was a tremendous fighting machine.
