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Tim Witherspoon Still Throwing
By Rick Folstad
At 44, he still has that
crazy overhand right. It comes in fast
and mean and unless you’ve been waiting for it all
night, it arrives unexpected; an unwelcome party crasher
who suddenly turns out the lights. Tim Witherspoon is at
the age when most men start taking longer naps, shorter
walks and bigger helpings. They start thinking about
grandchildren, hair plugs, light beer and comfortable
shoes.
They don’t start thinking about becoming heavyweight
champion of the world.
Still, Witherspoon
(55-11-1, 38 KOs) has that
overhand right that won’t go away, won’t let him quit.
It’s there patiently waiting for
another chance, another young career to ruin. If
Witherspoon has lost anything over the years, it wasn’t
his ability to end fights early. Punching power is
usually the last thing to abandon a fighter. If you can
knock guys out when you’re 24, you can knock them out
when you’re 44. Like George
Foreman, Witherspoon has that gift.
It’s already carried him to two world championships.
Now he hopes he can ride it to a third.
He’ll be packing that overhand right with him
on Sunday when he takes on Lou Savarese
(42-4,
34 KOs) at the Table Mountain Casino in Friant, CA., for the NABO
heavyweight championship.
Billed as King of the Mountain, the fight will help
decide who gets to move to the next square and who has
to go back three spaces. The
winner will earn some kind of
heavyweight outskirts bragging rights, though it’s hard
to say exactly what those will be. While
Witherspoon has that “not so secret’’ overhand right,
Savarese isn’t coming into this fight unarmed or
unaware. A heavy-hitter himself, he’s stunned his share
of heavyweight hopefuls, though he was pretty much
the stunnee against Mike Tyson. But so were a lot of
good heavyweights.
Still, the legend in this fight belongs to Witherspoon.
He’s the one with the infamous punch, the second
childhood and the two heavyweight titles.
“It would be idiotic to not be somewhat concerned about
that punch,’’ Savarese said recently. “Tim is still
dangerous. You’ve just got to be smart about it.’’
As for what it feels like to be
fighting an old man, Savarese, at 37, knows better
than to consider Witherspoon anything less than a
huge threat. Terrible Tim lands that one special punch
and Savarese’s career is suddenly pitched into the
abyss.
“Age isn’t that much of a factor,’’ he said. “Look at
Larry Holmes and George Foreman and what they did when
they were older. Look at Lennox (Lewis) and Evander
Holyfield. Those guys are all getting older, but they’re
also taking better care of themselves.’’
Like Witherspoon is doing.
What’s important to remember is that during his long
career, Witherspoon was known to speed past the gym in
order to arrive early at the party. Self-discipline has
never been his strong suit. But at 44, he can’t get away
with bad habits and still fight, and he knows it. His
time left in the fight game is short and can be measured
with a stopwatch. He can hear the seconds ticking away
and that’s got to be the scariest thing of all.
Except for maybe that overhand right of his.
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Playing Matchmaker: Williams/Cotto, Pavlik/Abraham Winners Meet
"I wouldn't mind paying 50 dollars for a Paul Williams /Miguel Cotto fight with Margarito/Clottey in the undercard. Or Jermain Taylor/Paul Williams with a fight between Kelly Pavlik/Arthur Abraham on the same night. A set up like that would be good for boxing 'cause the fans would see four good fighters in one night and possibly see the two winners fight in the near future.Too bad boxing doesn't think about the fans the way fans think about boxing." ---TSS reader Arturo plays matchmaker
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To suggest story ideas to TSS, please email
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