Tim Witherspoon talks openly about his brand new book: ‘Terrible Times’

By Boxing News - 11/26/2014 - Comments

witherspoon4646by Ian Aldous: It’s been over eleven years since he last ventured into the ring as a professional heavyweight and now Tim Witherspoon (55-13-1) has decided it’s time to lift the lid on his career and tell his life story publicly. He’s a colourful character from the golden era of heavyweight boxing and over the years has dealt with court battles, big world title fights and a positive drug test – he has quite the story to tell. Last week Tim took some time to talk with me over the phone about his career.

The book has been created in co-operation with British author, Ryan Danes. With Tim continuously spending time on either side of the pond – it created difficulties in getting together to work on their project. “It was kind of awkward because I’m over here in America and he’s over there (England). We had to do Skype (conversations), I flew over there and we sat down a couple of times. It was kind of awkward because we had to do it that way but it worked out.”

Other than taking the time to work on the book, Tim is in a good place in his life. He seems relaxed and happy to chat whilst taking on the duties of a parent and grandparent. “Life is good, you know. I got my kids and my grandkids and that’s enough to keep me happy and keep going forward. I got my daughter who’s English and she’s with me in America, they keep me living longer.”

It’s a contrast to how he struggled as a single-parent back during his days as an active competitor. “One of my daughters was really sad so we got in the car and I couldn’t bring her back to life (figuratively). So I went inside this deli and brought her a beer. We was drinking it for about twenty minutes and by the time I got her home – she was OK. I got her to forget about it. Here I am: a single parent for fifteen years and I’m trying to comfort my kids to get them to understand how things are and this is one of the things I did with my youngest daughter at the time.”

One of the big revelations in the book is that Witherspoon threw a fight against James ‘Bonecrusher’ Smith for his newly won WBA world heavyweight championship, just to get out of his contract with super-promoter of the times – Don King. “I threw the Bonecrusher fight. A lot of people in England seem to think that I was lying but it’s the truth. You could interview all the people that was in my corner (to get the truth). My family didn’t know that I threw the fight until afterwards, they were crying and everything and I told them that I had to do that. ”

He continued “After I fought Tony Tubbs, I tested positive for marijuana and so I had to go to rehab and pay a $25,000 fine and give Tony Tubbs a rematch. Don King needed me to go to England to fight Bruno on a big card they set up and I didn’t know how big it was. So, all those stipulations that was in the agreement, I had to do that. After I knocked Bruno out I was supposed to fight Tony Tubbs, he comes up with a shoulder injury and can’t fight, so they want to put Bonecrusher in. I knew that they were only offering me $500,000 if I beat Bonecrusher or Tony Tubbs. And out of that I knew I was gonna get maybe $100,000 so what’s the sense in me fighting somebody I already beat twelve out of twelve rounds and almost knocked him out four times the first time I fought him – why should I fight him again when I already beat him? So, I said I’m not gonna do it and weeks before the fight I told my lawyer to make sure the three knockdown rule is in effect and make sure I get an X amount of dollars – I took it. I was the happiest man in the world, the best thing he could have did was knock my teeth out – which he did, the one that was already loose. I was gonna go to the dentist to get it pulled but he did me a favour!”

British fight promoter, Frank Warren, wrote in a piece for ‘The Independent’ that he believes Tim’s story about fixing the fight against Bonecrusher is ‘a load of balls’. Tim was a little surprised to hear that when I informed him of the quote. “Me and Frank are really good friends and I have nothing really bad to say about him either. I’m a true man and everybody respects me in the boxing game. I said that Don did some things and I also said he’s the best promoter of all-time. Nobody put a show on like Don King. Like I said, my book is not about Don King, it’s not about Frank Warren – a lot of people say he’s the Don King of Europe. He never treated me bad, every time I saw him we shake hands and talk. So, I’m really surprised that he said a lot of the things I was saying wasn’t true but it’s public knowledge.”

Despite the years of unhappiness under the promotional banner of Don King – Tim holds no grudges against him today. “About a year ago – I saw Don King and he said ‘I love you Tim’ and I said ‘I love you too’. The fact of the matter that he robbed me – it’s over, I’ve got to get on with my life. This is one of the lawsuits that would’ve brought Don King down if we’d have went to court. If we’d went to the court – Don King would have been messed up big time. There was a lot of people, lone wolves trying to bring me in and I had to arm myself with guns, people knocking on my door asking me to meet with Don, people were riding by flashing car lights in the window. There was word that there was guys trying to kidnap them (his children) off the streets of Philly.”

Finally, I left it to the man himself to tell you why he thinks you should purchase the memoirs that chronicle the life and times of a former two-time world heavyweight champion. “This book tells everybody what happened in the 80’s, 90’s and early 00’s because Don King during those times was really active and I was one of the heavyweights that stood up to him. It’s a good book and interesting, about a young guy that grew up in the great city of Philadelphia where Rocky ran up the steps, this is a true guy running up the steps and holding his hands up. This is the real heavyweight champion of Philadelphia. This is a true story about a boxer coming up who was mishandled.”

To purchase your own copy of ‘Terrible Times’, visit timwitherspoon.net



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