Witherspoon is one of the most under-showcased, under-appreciated HW's of the 80's and 90's. Part of that was thanks to Don King. Witherspoon and Bert Cooper are my two sentimental favourites of this era of HW boxing.

Limited though he was Frank Bruno ducked no one. Lewis, Witherspoon, McCall, Tyson, Bonecrusher Smith..the guy got in the ring with the best. He never let defeat hold him back and boxed on until he achieved his dream. Well done Frank and I hope you realise how much you actually achieved in your career. An absolute top man and true professional.

I loved Tim Witherspoon for years. Smart, big, and a good winner. His family worked harder than others.

Everytime Bruno lost he got even more famous in England, they loved that guy thru thick and thin

Tim was so underrated great boxer

Tim Witherspoon was clearly much more technically proficient than Bruno. Tim was moving his head, changing stances, and just flat-out confusing Bruno, who was upright and stationary. Excellent work Timmy!

If ever any one particular boxer was completely ef'd by Don King Tim would certifiably be at the top of that list.

I was at that fight almost 30 years ago.. Something I will never forget.. I was so far from the ring you could hardly see anyone, but just as the fight was coming to an end I sneaked in at ringside and got to see loads of famous boxers that were shocked of the outcome. I got some great photos as well !

You can knock Frank for his obvious limitations but Tim Witherspoon was a class boxer in another class to Bruno and he did well to last as long as he did and put up a heroic effort.Thats all a man can do.

I used to see Frank running around Emerson Park in Essex and he was as fit as a fiddle and could run for miles. It goes to show how tough fighting is for 12 rounds compared to running for 2 hours. Hats off to boxers that can fight like this for 12 rounds.

This was a very good fight. Frank was actually quicker here than many other fights. Tim’s boxing intelligence was so much better though. Awkward defence, quick and accurate. I’d forgotten how good he was

We love a gracious loser in England, humble in defeat and that's why Bruno is such a legend. If you go out and put it all on the line and give your all you're a hero in England even in defeat.

Tim Witherspoon was a great fighter

Bruno was so small and less chizzled here than he was in the Tyson fight. Bruno was a very good fighter, he just couldn't beat the best of the best, like Tyson, Bonecrusher (underrated fighter) and Lewis, but he did earn his WBC title, which is a huge accomplishment.

Witherspoon’s overhand right was appropriately titled “the can opener”.

Tim fought an intelligent fight, let Frank punch himself out then came on strong after 6 or 7 rounds a kOd Frank 👊🏻👊🏻

Tim Witherspoon “One of Philly’s finest to EVER Do it. Straight Gladiator💯👊🏿

That overhand right was an awesome weapon. He beat Holmes in their HW fight, in my opinion. But the judges gave Holmes the benefit of the doubt.

Agreed. Plus, aside from being an exceptionally hard puncher, The Spoon was a skilled & experienced boxer, who started as a sparring partner for "The Greatest". (Ali)

I met Witherspoon about 10 years ago at a charity white collar boxing event at a hotel just outside Manchester (Uk) . I was working as a Medic at the event. I went to the room he was staying in just hoping for a picture with him. He let me and another medic kn his room for about 20/30 min, had a good chat and he introduced us to his son. We are both massive boxing fans and this was like an amazing opportunity to meet an ex heavyweight world Champion He was a real gentleman and such a nice guy, he was still absolutely massive as well.

Witherspoon was a great all rounder, Brunos achillis was he was usually gassed by the 5th, but in my opinion had one of the best physiques in heavyweight history

I watched this fight when i was 12 and at the time i remember people saying bruno would flatten witherspoon because Tim was "fat" !.fast forward, now aged 45 and with a firmer grasp of boxing history we all know tim witherspoon was a very skilled and tough heavyweight champion who could mix it in any era and beat a lot of big names in history due to his size,heart and technical ability.Also looking at tim's physique back then it's comical to recall people calling him fat when you think of ruiz and several "wobbly" heavyweights of todays era.

I met Tim about 7 years ago. Was very surreal. Basically I live in Surbiton in England and was walking down the high street and saw a big guy in a WBC tracksuit running towards me. It was about 20 seconds after he passed me that i realised it was Tim Witherspoon. Same thing happened a few days later except this time I managed to stop him and say hello. Really nice respectful guy. He went on to say he was staying with a friend who lived above the Sauce Kettle (a small bar in Surbiton). I saw him around a few more times and we got talking about Don King and how he got ripped off by him and also the Frank Bruno fight. He was really complimentary about Frank. His exact words were that if they had had each other’s managers then Frank would have beaten him. The problem with Tim though is that once he starts talking he doesn’t stop lol. A really nice guy. Not seen him for years so I guess he moved back to the states. Nice to see though he still was keeping in shape

Tim Witherspoon is one of the finest heavyweight champions who receives little or no attention or appreciation. Witherspoon and George Foreman with two fighters that Mike Tyson avoided...

Great fight, TW has one of the best overhand rights in Boxing...

My takeaway from this is that Witherspoon was a damn good boxer. Bruno fought bravely but Witherspoon was stronger, more determined and better.

Although frank Bruno was stiff and robotic, he was a big puncher. His chin was pretty decent as he was only knocked out badly against Bonecrusher smith. All other stoppages, he was stopped on his feet. Stamina was his biggest problem, too muscle-bound. A lot of people say that he was a limited fighter who can only box long range with the jab and throw 1-2, but in this fight, he proved that he can throw hooks, overhand and uppercuts, combinations and body punching on the inside. Weakness was that he had no defense, counterpunch, head movement and footwork. Nevertheless, he still became a world champion.

This was typical Bruno; up on the cards for most of the fight, fading down the stretch and getting stopped.

Big Frank won the world title not bad for a man who never won a fight that mattered ,BRRRUUUNNNOOO😄😄😄😄😄

Witherspoon was uncharacteristically sloppy in this fight, especially with his vaunted right hand, often winging it. When he threw it shorter and straighter, it was much more accurate. His defense was excellent though, often making Bruno miss. What's ironic in this fight is that his left hook was his best weapon, and deadly accurate. Big fan of Terrible Tim. Very underrated. Props to Bruno showing incredible guts.

Bruno was getting hit by everything Witherspoon threw. He shipped so much punishment in that fight and didn't really land anything of consequence. Withspoon was a fluid, aggressive, very talented US heavyweight. 2 time world champion. Poor Frank took a beating that night. I watched it live on TV...

Brilliant fight and a brutal finish by Terrible Tim

A good effort by Bruno , against a very formidable Tim Witherspoon

Eddie futch once offered to coach bruno in the usa after noticing certain flaws in his punching technique. I just wish he’d have learned to clinch when hurt instead of going to pieces. People knock him but forget that there were a lot of talented HW’s in his era but he did finally win the WBC title vs oliver mcall in 94 & thats all that matters.

tim had amazing skills tremendous fighter the best next to Ali ,tremendous skills by witherspoon

Tim showed the stuff that Champions are made of by giving the judges the night off and taking matters into his own hands.

Great fight very evenly-matched Fighters I miss great boxing like this!

As much as I like Frank, I can’t watch these reruns anymore. I’m always willing him on and he just doesn’t quite do it☹️. What heart he’s got though💪🏻

This was a great fight to watch it could've went either way.

Witherspoon had respect for Bruno and emphasised in his post fight interview 'Bruno was a good fighter'...he meant it and years later he consistently confessed since that with the right corner men bruno would have won, an admission that he realised Bruno did not fight the contest according to his strenghts...

Bruno had sharp punches and good lateral movement. His head movement wasn't that good, nor his clinching. He always made his fights exciting.

I've got hammered in Wetherspoons a few times.

This is what will happen to Joshua if he's not careful.

Tim is class them both hand hooks killers .

A soft flabby Tim Witherspoon defeated a chiseled disciplined Frank Bruno. That shows who had the skills... As much heart as Bruno had in there, he was so robotic. Spoon sliced right through that. His overhand right was one of the division’s most feared weapons.

Great post!!!! Thanks!!!

Ayyyyyyy shout out to terrible Tim came into my jimmy johns n was cool af now going back n watching his fights man should have talked to him more

Dont forget, Bruno was still a bit green round the gills when he lost to Bonecrusher, so inevitably his defeat would have been far more convincing, don't forget it was Bonecrusher who needed to win by knockout because Bruno was miles ahead on points, but lacked the experience to stay away and coast the last round, when he lost to Witherspoon he had more experience under his belt and gave an incredible account of himself.

I listened to this on the radio, sea fishing off the Gas Works Jetty with my uncle. Afterwards, my uncle did mock commentating - "And Bruno's been hit with a spoon."

Was there 💪

Great video! Witherspoon always had that body that looked like he hadn't trained , but always fought well and was underated . Bruno probably was a bit inexperienced to deal with a quality champ like tim at the time but gave a good fight until he got caught and should have just kept out of the way for the last two rounds .

To say Bruno couldn't take a punch is way off the mark.....Tyson, Lewis etc hit him with awesome shots and he took a blasting before losing....what he didn't have at top level was Staima, speed to land his big punches cleanly and blocking and slipping movements....not really a Champ but a very good contender in the mould of maybe a Gerry Quarry.

Witherspoon was one tough dude.

What a fight!

If only Bruno learned to clinch

I was well upset when Frank got bruck up at the end of that fight - he put in a right shift as well. Seriously, not sure if it's because I'm a fellow Wandsworth boy but it put me on a right downer

Witherspoon was no joke he punches from every angle this is very dangerous for a big guy a real boxer

Frank was strapping lad with a good chin, right cross and big heart... But that was it really. His almost total lack of talent resulted in an awkward and predictable boxing style and despite an impressive physique he tended to fade in the later rounds. This meant that he was able to knock over most of the heavyweight riff raff of his day but lost whenever he faced anyone with whiff of class. Having said all that, the Heavyweight division of the 80s and 90s would not have been the same without him.

Witherspoon the third best Heavyweight of the 80’s.

Tim was a very underestimated fighter who didn't get the fights he wanted due to politics and him not being Don King's bitch. Great show by Frank too, though. Thanks for the upload :o)

Nice win! Whiterspoon in great shape here!

Poor Frank, such a great guy. If only his skill set matched his physique. Still, it was nice to see him try real hard before finally getting inevitably pulverized. I'll never forget Tyson doing the right to the body, uppercut to Franks head followed by a left hook to finish frank off on the ropes. He did manage to budge Mike once though. So there is that.

Thirty years ago on ITV and it was a classic.

Nice cross arm defence from Witherspoon.

Tim was an incredible counter puncher . I like both of these fighters but I can't help but wonder why Big Frank got away with holding and hitting so much . It was almost his trademark .

To say that some people used to consider Bruno to be a bit of a joke fighter with limited skills and a glass jaw, I’m pretty sure we just watched him stand a trade with a big puncher with very fast hands , more than AJ has done in his entire career

I wonder why people claim "BRUNO HAD A GLASS JAW" !!???............. He actually had a very Tough Chin & a Hard Head. TYSON, LEWIS, BONECRUSHER & WITHERSPOON had to throw a ton of their full leverage BOMBS to finally stop him. And BRUNO beat the tough hard punchin OLIVER McCALL

GREAT FIGHT TO BOTH

Both men gave as good as they got. Witherspoon was a blast at his best.

...it was a 15 round fight so there were another 4 full rounds! Bruno had already punched himself out, he didn't have the physique for distance fights generally.

That ref was 4 hours late.

Frank Bruno had one of the hardest punches in boxing but at times he just did not have that pure aggression good boxer wish him all the best and I hope he is keeping a lot better these days Bruno Bruno Bruno. Loved watching him box in them days 🇬🇧🇬🇧😀👍

Both fighters did well. Only if Bruno learn to hold like he did with Oliver M. He could have had a chance to win.

Poor Frank Bruno - A nice guy and a good fighter but he lost every time he stepped in with the 'big league' fighters.

You got Spoooooooned!

Witherspoons cross arm defence reminds me of Ken Norton. Shame he was ruined by Don King.

BillyRay Valentine Capricorn, he didn’t quit, Ali, Frazier, Witherspoon all Capricorn’s, like me we can’t quit, don’t ever give up no matter. Peace from Uk to all in Covid19 locations in lockdown. This Town is heading into Lockdown

It seems Witherspoon is one of the best boxers of the 80s

if u turn the sound all the way down,no crowd ,no commentary, and just watch the body and foot movement,the SPEED of hand and foot, not being a hater but then do the same on these new guys,there's no comparison.these 2 guys are unknown except to hardcore fans,watch this fight then watch something like Joshua versus Murray....

I took some pics with Terrible Tim at the late-Joe Frazier's b/day party. He was a gentleman.

Bruno cleared way more than Withspoon’s forty grand…….. Bruno was not involved with Don King

ahh bless our franky .he has a heart, chin, balls, just lacked that class to be a elite..still gave us a good night or 2

Did the ref not get any training...? He let Witherspoon get a good 2 or 3 pinches in on Bruno after he was down...

Bruno’s punches don’t seem to be delivered naturally... slow, robotic..

What a war!

I remember the British press humour was how did Tim beat Bruno? Wetherspoon

great boxer. Was a world champion. You can't argue with facts.

Thank God..Bruno is alive. Bullied down like anything..oh God.

Spoon was a beast when he was in shape. But that was coin flip.

Frank Bruno, lástima! Estatura, fortaleza, resistencia,. Todo, menos corazón para salir adelante.

I watched Bruno vs Bugner. I thought they hung a heavy bag in the ring for Bruno to hit.

Witherspoon tried the cheap shot windmill right hand so many times in that fight, similar to how Wilder fights.

Brutal finish for Bruno.

He never could defend himself when on trouble Bad coaching

Weatherspoon was a good skilful boxer, but he should have choose a better boxing style. And Bruno? Well...he made Butterbean look a top contender for the heavyweight title.

Apparently there was an angry mob trying to get to Tim after the fight, but then Muhammed Ali appeared and they were stunned into silence by his mere presence...

Тим Уизерспун 👍💪

At 5:07, Witherspoon says "I can come back, I'm a great champion. I'm never gonna quit." Gets KO'd round 1 by James Smith in his next fight...:)

Why do they speed up these old fights ?