Witherspoon v Bonecrusher Smith III

[Boilermaker]

Who wins this fight. Bonecrusher, instead of fighting Tyson, Rematches Tim Witherspoon. How does the board think this fight pans out?

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Witherspoon by shutout decision. He practically took a dive in the rematch. Tim had no interest in the fight and was dying to get away from King. The punches were legit, but Spoon didn't care if he won or lost.

[Giancarlo]

Witherspoon by shutout decision. He practically took a dive in the rematch. Tim had no interest in the fight and was dying to get away from King. The punches were legit, but Spoon didn't care if he won or lost.

Yes, he did look disinterested at the opening bell.

I do think he thought he'd be able to win quite easily (as he had the 1st time they met), but Smith seemed to sense Witherspoon was there to be taken and jumped right on him.

It seemed that Tim couldn't get his feet under him after the first knockdown, and before he knew what was happening he'd lost under the 3 knockdown rule.

[Brute]

You want to put the Smith who lost to Bugner up against the Witherspoon who lost to Thunder?

They would both lose.

[witherspoon]

Witherspoon wins a shutout - first fight all over again.

I honestly believe that Don King did everything in his power to keep Witherspoon away from Tyson. There is no way he could have known that Bone would pull off the upset in the way that he did, but I would bet everything I own that the outcome of Witherspoon-Smith II was exactly what Don King would have wished for. I have no doubt that the late substitution of Smith for Tubbs was deliberately 'arranged'.

BUT.
Being the fighter that he was/could have been, it is disappointing that Witherspoon did not use the incentive of a million dollar payday against Tyson as motivation to screw Don King in a spectacular way (get Bonecrusher out of the way and then wreck Tyson).
It's hard to be critical though, who knows what Witherspoon was going through at the time. My own guess is that he probably knew he could beat Bonecrusher easily in Dec '86, but the prospect of fighting Tyson with anything less than 100% focus is what derailed Tim more than anything else.
To his great credit, when asked during a recent interview by Steve Bunce to speculate on what would would have happened if he had the chance to fight Tyson after the Bonecrusher fight, Tim said honestly that he would have been embarassed because he would not have been focused on training or on the fight.
*Please note, I am in no way impying that Witherspoon would have beaten Tyson if he cleared Bonecrusher. I'm just saying that Don King did not want to risk exposing Tyson to someone as dangerous as Witherspoon, especially with Tim trying desperatley to get out from under Kings control.*

[Bricks]

interesting post. But even if Witherspoon had put in some effort and beaten smith the 2nd time and got the shot with Tyson, even if it had been a $1,000,000 payday u can bet King would have found a way of making deductions and Tim ending up with $45,000 net again. and Tim knew that. In those days there was no where else to go in the HW division outside King and Tim paid during 88-90 for that.

[loaded_gloves]

Mugabi said it before me. The lure of a million dollar payday against Tyson was non-existent because Don & Carl King had shrunk his previous million dollar payday against Bruno to a measly 100K. It must have been an impossible mental block to overcome, both in training and whilst Bonecrusher Smith is swinging nuclear bombs at you.

A fit and focussed Spoon out to spite King vs Tyson in 87, now there's a mouth watering match up!

[Bricks]

How do you see it going loaded? 8)

[witherspoon]

Witherspoon said that he took to carrying around a handgun, because threats from Don Kings goons became so regular and nasty (Don King Unauthorised).
Just shows how far King would go to bully a fighter who would not play ball.