the forgotten fights project vol. 1; Greg Page vs. Tim Witherspoon 3/9/84

The decision to start writing about boxing in long form is sort of quizzical; why do it? There's not really an audience for it and no demand for pieces on the people I want to watch fights of or write about. There's no commercial reason to write about the sport in this manner. There's simply no reason to do it other than a sort of love of the game. If you're reading this, then, hey, I hope I don't bore you.

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Two days after the 1986 NBA Draft, Len Bias died of a cocaine overdose. A star at Maryland, Bias was intended to be the man to lead the Boston Celtics out of the Larry Bird era and into the 1990s. His death effectively broke the contending lineage of the team. They wouldn't be a serious force again in the Eastern Conference for almost 20 years. I was pretty young then and honestly, I don't remember Len Bias' death as a thing that occurred in real time. It didn't affect me. What I would know about later on in my early development, thanks to my then life in the Dallas Metroplex, was the saga of Roy Tarpley. Roy was a highly skilled Center drafted in 1986, and was hoped to be a centerpiece of an emergent Dallas Mavericks squad. I watched, even after moving to Connecticut in December of 1989, as Tarpley battled his demons and ultimately wound up banned from the NBA for life in 1995.

1986's NBA Draft class is infamous for the drug abuse rampant among those taken. Chris Washburn, the 3rd pick, had significant drug problems and was also banned after just a couple seasons. #6 pick William Bedford went to prison for trafficking. These are just the lottery picks, mind you. The draft was littered with guys who barely or never played due to drug abuse. But this is a boxing blog and a post about boxing, so perhaps it seems strange to preface me writing about heavyweight boxing with a brief history of the NBA's most infamous draft class. It is with reason.

Like all the sports of the era, cocaine hit the top stars hard, and in boxing, where the top stars were some of the highest grossing athletes of the era, this is certainly true as well. An entire generation of skilled, big heavyweights from the United States was effectively lost to a combination of terrible management/promotion under the Don King Productions banner and cocaine. As much as the free agent market certainly hurt the future of the sport, the rapid degradation of the contenders and stars in the bright public spotlight could not possibly have done boxing any favors.

The 1984 WBC Title fight between Greg Page and Tim Witherspoon is a great place to start watching and writing about this era and about these particular fighters. Both were extremely talented, large, athletic heavyweights. Both were also rumored in years after to have been intentionally kept away from fighting Mike Tyson during Iron Mike's ascendancy and world title prime. Up until a point not long before this fight, the WBC title had been the property of one Larry Holmes. Holmes was still the rightful heavyweight champion of the world, but had given up the belt as he targeted Gerrie Coetzee, the South African heavyweight who held the WBA crown. The ultimate conclusion of all this was Larry Holmes accepting and legitimizing the then new IBF heavyweight title, and both Witherspoon and Page would end up on their way to what would be career pinnacles.

Page not only shared a hometown with Ali, but was clearly influenced by his style. The white trunks, the dancing, the fast hands; they all evoked a man looking to imitate the greatest hero the heavyweight division ever knew. As his own product, Page gave inconsistent efforts in the gym, often came in overweight, and had been derided for low punch output in his fights. Witherspoon was a different story. He was a large boxer/puncher type who didn't fit any easy mold. More Norton than Ali, Witherspoon walked men down with his imposing 6' 3 1/2" frame and beat them into submission. Quickly rising through the ranks, he earned a title shot against Larry Holmes 3 1/2 years and 15 fights into his pro career. He lost a close decision, but earned a tremendous amount of respect. Plenty of folks will tell you he deserved the win. Less than a year after that defeat, Witherspoon returned to a world title contest, this time to claim the belt Holmes gave up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvPpLSGwv0w

One of the major criticisms of heavyweight boxing at this point in time is that it was terrible. Essentially, the action was flat, fighters were lazy and out of shape, all the fights were boring, and there was nothing good about any of it. When you toss in the creation of the multiple sanctioning bodies known today during this era, things were all sorts of bad. But this isn't 1984 any more. I'm writing this in November of 2013, in a wildly different world than that of the mid-1980s. Instead of judging Page/Witherspoon against the likes of a Rocky Marciano bout from the 50s, we are able to look at everything that followed it, plus look at those earlier bouts without the misty eyed connection to some mythical period of youth. I am a millenial; hear me roar.

When I look at Page/Witherspoon now, cognizant of the history of the fight and how it was viewed, that only adds to the complete joy that is watching a fight like this. Here you have two large, skilled, athletic heavyweights going toe to toe for 12 hard, competitive rounds. They land big shots. They throw combinations. You can see footwork, defense, every goddamned thing you want to see in a heavyweight fight, here it is. Witherspoon walks down Page in every single round, and Page responds by putting his back on the ropes. In 2013, Page is guaranteeing that he loses the fight by doing this. Back then, not so much. I think judges were more willing to give him some credit for work he did on the inside. Mind you, I think Witherspoon beat the crap out of him, but that's how things might have been seen 30 years ago.

Witherspoon starts out strong and stays strong for most of the fight. We get great exchanges in rounds 2 and 4 with Page fighting off the ropes, but almost always getting the worst of the situation. The constant pressure and weighing on Page should, on paper, wear him down. At 239 1/2 lbs, this is not the best shape Page could have appeared in. He's lumpy, with hint of man tit. But sure enough, he starts to mount a bit of a comeback. Witherspoon becomes frustrated in the 8th with Page's ability to withstand his battering and throws a nasty chopping right on the break. In round 9, most of the round consists of Page moving laterally, jabbing, and keeping Witherspoon at distance. He won the round for me on that, even if Witherspoon nearly stole it with power punching in the last 30 seconds. I gave Page the 10th too, but by round 11, the rally is over. Page returns to playing almost total defense while an open mouthed Witherspoon gamely presses the action. I end up handing the final two rounds to Tim. Official judges Lou Tabat and the eternal Jerry Roth both agreed with my assessment.

page	9	9	10	9	9	9	9	9	10	10	9	9
witherspoon	10	10	9	10	10	10	10	10	9	9	10	10

MY SCORECARD: 117-111 Tim Witherspoon

Exactly 17 years later, Greg Page was knocked out by Dale Crowe. Crowe was a regionally based heavyweight and pseudo-journeyman who had lost to the likes of Cliff "Twin Tyson" Couser and Brian Nielsen. Page went into a coma and never fully regained consciousness, passing away in 2009. I can't think of a particularly good way to conclude this piece, as if there's some epilogue you can't put together without wikipedia or boxrec as a guide instead of my words. I suppose you could feign interest in knowing that there was a rematch of this bout in 1999, with Greg Page stopping Tim Witherspoon in 8. Page apparently took it to him hard from the opening bell. Honestly, I don't know. No one seems to have uploaded that piece of history to Youtube, even though it was taped and aired live on the undercard of Larry Holmes/Bonecrusher Smith II. Yes, that was aired. Live. On PPV for $20.

To me, the whole history of both men is indicative of just what we lost as fans of boxing during this period of time. As time has moved on, I start to see the availability of fight film via electronic sources as the great mediator in arguments past, present, and future. What we assumed from what we had heard all these years is that the heavyweights of the 1980s were trash compared to that of the 1970s, and in turn, all of history. That simply isn't true. They were actually really good. Not consistent, but when good, really good. But now that we aren't entirely reliant on ultra-hobbyists and old white man scribes to tell us how and what to think, but can instead start to postulate on our own different ideas and original takes, I'm beginning to shift towards the belief that the old Bert Sugar-esque writers of the period tore these guys down for no good reason aside from, best I can tell, a lack of racial parity. There were no white Italians or Jews out here fighting for the heavyweight title any more, and that probably irked them. Luckily, they got Tyson to come "clean up the mess" they helped to make and perpetuate going all the back to the 70s when many of them hailed Don King as the man boxing needed.

(By the way, Tyson kills both these guys dead. Page ain't running 12 rounds and Witherspoon isn't gonna stand in front of him and win. Just for the record.)

Comparing to the present, I usually try not to compare eras of boxers against one another. But with heavyweights, I can't help but do it here. Klitschko apologists (I being one from time to time) point out their size, actual skills and athleticism, and state they'd be tough challenges for heavyweights of any era. I have my moments where I sell myself on that. But Wladimir is horrible entertainment in the ring, and the heavyweight division as a whole is anathema to viewers in the US today because everyone in it is so goddamned bad. Page/Witherspoon I is supposed to be a terrible heavyweight fight of the era, and it is easily better than any heavyweight fight that happened this year. You sit down and say, "what are the best heavyweight fights of the last 5 years?" and that brings up bouts like Fury/Cunningham, Cunningham/Adamek II, Chisora/Helenius, Huck/Povetkin, and, god, Liakhovich/Quinn? Page/Witherspoon I is better than those fights, and these guys are bigger than most of the participants in those bouts. I have the feeling Page/Witherspoon II might be better than those 5 listed fights too. You go deeper in this discussion: Larry Holmes is Arturo Gatti next to Wladimir Klitschko. A whole lot of people fucked up when they thought the early-mid 80s was the bad era. If they knew that we know now, they'd be handing out suboxone like candy and begging these guys to get with Bob Arum. If you ask me, it's overdue that we reassess all these guys.