Тим Витерспун – екі дүркін ауыр салмақ чемпионы

American boxer

Tim Witherspoon (born December 27, 1957) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1979 to 2003. He was a two time world heavyweight champion, having held the WBC title in 1984, and the WBA title in 1986. He beat Heavyweight World Champions Greg Page, James Smith, Tony Tubbs, Frank Bruno and Cruiserweight World Champions Alfonzo Ratliff and Al Cole. He is best known for his fight against undefeated Heavyweight World Champion Larry Holmes in which he lost by Split decision. Witherspoon also worked as a regular sparring partner for Muhammad Ali.

Witherspoon had six amateur bouts, losing the last to Marvis Frazier on decision after getting knocked down. Making his professional debut with a first round TKO over Joe Adams on October 30, 1979, Witherspoon quickly rose through the ranks. In 1981, he participated in his first high profile fight, knocking out future world cruiserweight champion Alfonzo Ratliff, after which he was signed by Don King. Witherspoon was a sparring partner of Ali as he was training to fight Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick. Ali also gave Witherspoon his complimentary ring alias of "Terrible" Tim Witherspoon. In 1982, he was matched with Renaldo Snipes, who had just given champion Larry Holmes a fair challenge (and knocked Holmes down), and outpointed him over 10 rounds, setting up his own challenge to Holmes.

On May 20, 1983, Witherspoon would have his first attempt at earning a world title by taking on the recognized top man in the division World Boxing Council champion Larry Holmes at the Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas. Witherspoon gave Holmes all he could handle, including rocking him badly in the ninth round, before losing a disputed twelve round split decision. He returned later in the year to outpoint Floyd "Jumbo" Cummings, who had drawn with Joe Frazier in Smokin' Joe's last fight, and win the NABF title with a first round knockout of James "Quick" Tillis.

In December 1983, Holmes relinquished his WBC title rather than defend against Greg Page, and chose to accept that of the newly formed IBF (International Boxing Federation). Witherspoon was matched with Page for the vacant title on March 9, 1984. Page, in constant war with promoter Don King, turned up overweight and was outpointed. Witherspoon's reign as champion would not be long however, as soon he himself was in constant war with King, and on August 31 of that year he was outpointed by Pinklon Thomas via majority decision.

In 1985 Witherspoon regained his NABF belt by beating James Broad in two rounds and made a successful twelve round defense against James "Bonecrusher" Smith in his first defense of the belt. This earned him another chance at a heavyweight title and he signed to fight reigning WBA champion Tony Tubbs on January 17, 1986 in Atlanta. Witherspoon won a close fight by majority decision, winning by only one point on one of the scorecards and three on another with one even, to become champion for a second time. In his first defense of his newly won championship, Witherspoon traveled to London and fought a young up and coming English heavyweight and future world champion Frank Bruno at Wembley Stadium, as part of the heavyweight unification series. In the eleventh round of a scheduled fifteen, Witherspoon recorded a technical knockout and did something he had not done when he was champion the first time: make a successful defense of the title after winning it. After defeating Bruno, a rematch with Tony Tubbs loomed but Tubbs pulled out of the fight. Needing to make a title defense, Witherspoon accepted a second fight with Bonecrusher Smith. Since dropping a lopsided decision in their first matchup (losing every round but one on all three scorecards) Smith had fought four bouts and recorded three wins, all against fringe contenders and journeymen. The fight was scheduled for December 12, 1986 at Madison Square Garden and Witherspoon a heavy favorite against the 17 5 Smith. With fifty seconds remaining in the first round, Witherspoon hit the canvas a third time and Rivera ended the proceedings. At ringside, HBO commentators Barry Tompkins, Larry Merchant, and Sugar Ray Leonard expressed disbelief at the outcome, with all three calling the bout a major upset.

Following the end his second title reign, Witherspoon spent years in litigation against Don King. In 1991 won the USBA heavyweight title by defeating fellow contender Carl "The Truth" Williams but lost a points decision to Everett Martin. Ring magazine called this inexplicable loss the low point of his career. In 1993 Don King settled out of court and paid Witherspoon a million dollars. By 1994 Witherspoon had won five fights in a row by knockout. Aged 38 he was signed by HBO and matched in high profile fights with cruiserweight champion Al Cole and the Cuban amateur Jorge Luis González, both of whom he defeated. Later in the year he was matched with Ray Mercer but lost a 10 round decision. After that loss Witherspoon laid off a year, and when he came back he was outpointed by Larry Donald on HBO, and, in 1998, lost a close decision when outworked by New Zealander Jimmy Thunder before travelling to Poland to be outpointed by Andrew Golota. The 43 year old Witherspoon resurfaced in 2001, knocking out the prospect David Bostice in one round, outpointing Cuban southpaw contender Eliecer Castillo and Syrian Ahmed Abdin, before his revival was ended by Lou Savarese, who stopped him in five rounds. Witherspoon also competed in Cedric Kushner's 2003 Thunderbox Heavyweight Tournament, "Fistful of Dollars," but lost in the opening stages.

Witherspoon resides near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he trains boxers, including his son, lightweight Tim Witherspoon Jr. and many others. He has also trained Light Heavyweight champion Clinton Woods in the U. K.

In 2014, Witherspoon published his book with the help of British entrepreneur Kevin Baker and ghost writer Ryan Danes.

No. (Number)ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateAgeLocationNotes69Loss55–13–1 Brian NixSD10Mar 15, 200345 years, 287 days 68Loss55–12–1 Lou SavareseTKO5 (12), Sep 22, 200244 years, 96 days 67Win55–11–1 Ahmed AbdinUD10May 18, 200244 years, 223 days 66Win54–11–1 Darroll WilsonKO2 (10), Mar 10, 200244 years, 292 days 65Win53–11–1 Ed WhiteTKO1, Jan 18, 200244 years, 343 days 64Win52–11–1 Cleveland WoodsKO1 (10), Jul 29, 200143 years, 151 days 63Loss51–11–1 Monte BarrettSD10Jun 28, 200143 years, 182 days 62Win51–10–1 Danny WoffordTKO3 (10)Apr 13, 200143 years, 258 days 61Win50–10–1 Elieser CastilloMD10Mar 31, 200143 years, 271 days 60Win49–10–1 David BosticeTKO1 (10), Feb 22, 200143 years, 308 days 59Win48–10–1 David SmithTKO2 (10), Jul 8, 200042 years, 172 days 58Draw47–10–1 Mike SedilloPTS (Points draw)12Apr 29, 200042 years, 242 days 57Win47–10 Joe BallardKO1Feb 25, 200042 years, 306 days 56Loss46–10 Greg PageRTD7 (10), Jun 18, 199941 years, 192 days 55Loss46–9 Brian NielsenTKO4 (10)Apr 16, 199941 years, 255 days 54Loss46–8 Andrew GolotaUD10Oct 2, 199840 years, 86 days 53Loss46–7 Jimmy ThunderUD10Apr 7, 199840 years, 264 days 52Loss46–6 Larry DonaldUD12Dec 13, 199739 years, 14 days 51Win46–5 Levi BillupsTKO1 (10), Nov 4, 199739 years, 53 days 50Loss45–5 Ray MercerUD10Dec 14, 199638 years, 13 days 49Win45–4 Jorge Luis GonzálezTKO5 (10), May 10, 199638 years, 231 days 48Win44–4 Al ColeUD10Jan 12, 199638 years, 350 days 47Win43–4 Tim PullerTKO2 (10), Nov 14, 199537 years, 43 days 46Win42–4 Everton DavisTKO7 (10), Oct 31, 199537 years, 57 days 45Win41–4 Jesse ShelbyTKO1 (10)Mar 24, 199537 years, 278 days 44Win40–4 Nathaniel FitchTKO6 (10)Dec 17, 199436 years, 10 days 43Win39–4 Sherman GriffinTKO3 (10), Aug 12, 199436 years, 137 days 42Win38–4 Tony WillisUD10Aug 25, 199234 years, 124 days 41Loss37–4 Everett MartinSD10Jul 21, 199234 years, 159 days 40Win37–3 James PritchardUD10Mar 23, 199234 years, 279 days 39Win36–3 Jimmy Lee SmithKO1 (10), Feb 4, 199234 years, 328 days 38Win35–3 Art TuckerTKO3 (12), Sep 10, 199133 years, 108 days 37Win34–3 Carl WilliamsSD12Mar 8, 199133 years, 294 days 36Win33–3 José RibaltaMD10Jul 19, 199032 years, 161 days 35Win32–3 Greg GorrellTKO3 (10), Mar 12, 199032 years, 290 days 34Win31–3 Jeff SimsRTD (Corner retirement)5 (10), Jan 11, 199032 years, 350 days 33Win30–3 Anders EklundKO1 (10), Oct 19, 198931 years, 69 days 32Win29–3 Larry AlexanderSD10Jan 27, 198931 years, 334 days 31Win28–3 Mauricio VillegasTKO9 (10)Feb 17, 198830 years, 314 days 30Win27–3 Mike WilliamsSD10Oct 14, 198729 years, 74 days 29Win26–3 Mark WillsTKO1 (10), Aug 4, 198729 years, 145 days 28Loss25–3 James SmithKO1 (15), Dec 12, 198628 years, 15 days 27Win25–2 Frank BrunoTKO11 (15), Jul 19, 198628 years, 161 days 26Win24–2 Tony TubbsMD15Jan 17, 198628 years, 344 days 25Win23–2 Sammy ScaffTKO4 (10), Oct 12, 198527 years, 76 days 24Win22–2 Larry BeilfussTKO1 (10), Sep 6, 198527 years, 112 days 23Win21–2 James SmithUD12Jun 15, 198527 years, 195 days 22Win20–2 James BroadKO2 (12), Apr 29, 198527 years, 242 days 21Win19–2 Mark WillsTKO9 (10), Mar 25, 198527 years, 277 days 20Loss18–2 Pinklon ThomasMD12Aug 31, 198426 years, 118 days 19Win18–1 Greg PageMD12Mar 9, 198426 years, 293 days 18Win17–1 James TillisTKO1 (12), Sep 23, 198325 years, 95 days 17Win16–1 Floyd CummingsUD10Jul 16, 198325 years, 164 days 16Loss15–1 Larry HolmesSD (Split decision)12May 20, 198325 years, 221 days 15Win15–0 Renaldo SnipesMD (Majority decision)10Jun 5, 198224 years, 205 days 14Win14–0 Luis AcostaKO2 (10), Mar 30, 198224 years, 272 days 13Win13–0 Alfonzo RatliffTKO7 (10), Dec 5, 198123 years, 22 days 12Win12–0 Curtis GaskinsKO2 (8)Nov 17, 198123 years, 40 days 11Win11–0 Jerry WilliamsTKO8 (10)Jul 30, 198123 years, 150 days 10Win10–0 Bobby JordanKO4 (10)Jun 17, 198123 years, 193 days 9Win9–0 Dave JohnsonUD8Apr 11, 198123 years, 260 days 8Win8–0 Marvin StinsonPTS (Points decision)10Feb 7, 198123 years, 323 days 7Win7–0 Ed BednarikTKO1, Jan 24, 198123 years, 337 days 6Win6–0 James ReidTKO6 (8)Dec 11, 198022 years, 16 days 5Win5–0 Oliver WrightTKO2 (8)Oct 24, 198022 years, 64 days 4Win4–0 Charles CoxKO5Jul 20, 198022 years, 160 days 3Win3–0 Robert EvansUD (Unanimous decision)6May 9, 198022 years, 232 days 2Win2–0 Robert RitchieKO (Knockout)1Apr 26, 198022 years, 245 days 1Win1–0 Joe AdamsTKO (Technical knockout)1, Oct 30, 197921 years, 58 days