Tim Witherspoon

Tim Witherspoon (* December 27, 1957 in Philadelphia, ) is an American boxer.

Career

Tim Witherspoon, nom Terrible, had only seven amateur fights and lost a fight. He suffered defeat against Marvis Frazier The, the son of Joe Frazier.

His professional career began in 1979. Only three years later, on 20 May 1982, he pushed for a points victory over Renaldo Snipes with only fifteen professional fights for the WBC World Championship Heavyweight against Larry Holmes and controversial lost on points.

On March 9, 1984, he got the chance against Greg Page boxing to the now vacant WBC belt. Titleholder Holmes wanted not previously compete against both, so that he eventually was stripped of the title. Holmes instead took to the belt of the newly formed IBF. Witherspoon won the battle against Page on points and was first world champion.

The joy did not last long, for in his first title defense on August 31, 1984, he lost the belt to the undefeated Pinklon Thomas. With a knockout against amateur star James Broad ( Record 17-1 ) and a point win over James " Bonecrusher " Smith, he reported back in 1985.

In January 1986, he won the WBA heavyweight championship against Tony Tubbs. This title he successfully defended on 19 July 1986 against Frank Bruno at Wembley by technical knockout in the eleventh round.

In his second title defense, however, he lost the belt to James " Bonecrusher " Smith. According to the prevailing opinion he had Smith probably underestimated, since he had already beaten him in the previously ingen encounter convincingly on points. So he went in the first round KO.

After this fight he could never able to return to previous achievements. However, his descent went in waves, sometimes he lost to weaker -ranked opponent, then he again showed surprisingly good performance. So in 2001 he succeeded at the age of 43 years, a point win against Eliecer Castillo. In 2003 he retired from boxing.

His second cousin Chazz Witherspoon in 2004 pro.