*80s Heavyweight division....The lost decade !!!

An avalanche of stupidity and bad decisions led to so many "Pickem" and other interesting fights not being made in the 80s.......

The 80s was my era and the Heavyweight division was my division.....Always has been my favorite...The history of Corbett v Fitz battling for the greatest prize in sports in the Noon day sun in Carson City.....Louis v Schmelling.....Johnson v Jeffries.....

No division comes close to Heavy and there have been great decades.....The 70s being the finest......But the 80s was the "lost" decade....so many careers and good fights derailed by white powder and other amateurish outlooks,...

WBC title fight in 84.....

Page v Thomas = Pickem..........Have no idea why a guy Holmes avoided in Page would go in against Tim Witherspoon as a slob who hadn't been bothered to train so he could get out of a Don King contract......Lost a decision in a fight he should have won comfortably bringing him to a defence against Pinklon Thomas.........Have no idea who I'd pick for that fight but it would have been a mouth watering matchup....

WBA title in 85......

Dokes v Tubbs = Pickem.......Dokes admitted getting powdered up in the dressing room before he lost his belt to Coetzee....Who had been slapped by Weaver who had failed in two attempts against Dokes......But it did cost us Dokes v Tubbs......Lightning fast hands against punches in bunches........No idea who I'd pick for this but I would have loved to have watched it..

WBA WBC in 87.....

Tyson v Witherspoon......Witherspoon wanted out of a KIng contract......After Tubbs pulled out of the rematch he wanted to ignore Smith and was forced in to a fight with a guy he had shut out years earlier.....and didn't turn up..

Not saying it's pickem but this would have been Tyson's greatest test before Douglas......Witherspoon was quality and would have turned up to win..He was a novice when he "beat" Larry in 83.......But alas we got Boneclutcher instead.....

WBA in 86

Tubbs v Bruno.....Pickem.......Tubbs beat Page in Buffalo at 229 pounds and then came in at 244 against Witherspoon and lost his title by 1 point......A fight Tubbs expected to win and should have.....Bruno v Tubbs would have been an interesting fight......Tubbs lacked Witherspoon's power and had a habit of taking timeouts on the ropes......Bruno's power could have been decisive.....Would have been interesting and I'm not sure who would have won....Probably Tony.

WBC in 86

Thomas was struggling with addiction in 86 when he sleepwalked against Berbick.....Left us with Berbick v Tyson.......15 months later we got an old Thomas who struggled but gave Tyson a few irritating moments in mid 87......But a pre title Tyson taking on a respected Thomas in 86 would have been so much more interesting than Berbick....Certainly a less rusty Pinky....Yes Tyson wins but more questions get asked.

These are obvious ones but so many other variations.....

I remember the Smith v Witherspoon fight at the time and was the only one out of everyone I knew who backed the Bonecrusher. Despite Witherspoon saying he threw it to get out of contract with Don King, I think Smith’s win was legit. He was a banger and his only chance was to go hell for leather early which he did. The Spoon gets too many apologists for that performance. Smith deserves his dues.

Aside from that one fight my only recollection of the 80s heavyweights was Tyson.

And good old Tony Tucker, was kind of the Jimmy Young of the era in that he never seemed to go away and was always in contention.

Derek Smalls wrote:And good old Tony Tucker, was kind of the Jimmy Young of the era in that he never seemed to go away and was always in contention.

Bit unfair on Young.........He fought Foreman...Lyle....Ali.....Norton...Shavers twice and later on Tubbs and Cooney.........Tucker wasn't really a mainstay......Took the money from Tyson...put it up is his nose, wasted his career and was done when he came back..

Though I always find Spinks ducking him amusing with the excuse he brought no money to the table when Spinks had just beaten Tanstad who was even less known...