Witherspoon Beats Tubbs for WBA Title and Then Sets Sights on a Triple Crown

Tim Witherspoon got back a piece of the heavyweight championship Friday night, then said, “Now, I want it all.”

Witherspoon came on strong in the late rounds to dethrone Tony Tubbs on a 15-round majority decision at the Omni for the World Boxing Assn. title.

There were no knockdowns in the bout, which the judges scored 144-143, 144-141 and 143-143, but Witherspoon staggered Tubbs several times in the late rounds.

“I knew the fight was close but I thought I scored more to the body,” complained Tubbs, who absorbed his first defeat in 23 pro fights.

“He was a good champion,” the 28-year-old Witherspoon said of Tubbs. It was a gracious statement considering that Tubbs, 27, was making only his first defense of the title he won April 27 with a unanimous decision over Greg Page.

Witherspoon added: “This was getting me ready for revenge on Pinklon Thomas and Larry Holmes.”

Witherspoon failed to win the World Boxing Council title when he lost a 12-round split decision to Holmes on May 20, 1983. He then won the WBC crown on a 12-round majority decision over Page on March 9, 1984, but lost to Thomas on a 12-round majority decision Aug. 31, 1984.

Several hours before the fight, promoters Don King and Butch Lewis and Home Box Office, which televised the bout, announced a series of seven championship fights involving WBC, WBA and International Boxing Federation fighters that would culminate in an undisputed heavyweight champion in 1987.

“I attribute my victory to hard training and dedication and getting my mind together for this fight,” said Witherspoon, who had said he wasn’t mentally or physically prepared for the Thomas fight.

After the fight, Tubbs said: “Tim won, and I am happy for him. It’s back to the drawing board and then back to the title.”

Witherspoon joined Floyd Patterson and Muhammad Ali as the only men to win heavyweight titles twice. Patterson was undisputed champion twice, while Ali was undisputed champion twice and a WBA champion on another occasion.

Witherspoon, who was reared in South Philadelphia, was the aggressor from the opening round and manhandled Tubbs throughout the bout, forcing the challenger to the ropes almost at will.

Witherspoon opened the 13th round with a combination of body punches, then a slashing left to the head that staggered the champion and sent him reeling into the ropes. He ended the round with another barrage of blows to Tubbs’ head and went to his corner at the bell with his arms raised.

In the final round, the challenger unleashed a combination to the head that staggered Tubbs again. The champion fought back briefly but was sent into the ropes again by another combination to the head.

Tubbs, who weighed 244 pounds--17 more than the challenger--admitted after the bout that “I wasn’t as active as I should have been” after winning the crown against Page.

Witherspoon got $50,000 for his victory, which was $400,000 less than he got when he lost the WBC title to Thomas. He had earned $200,000 when he won the title from Page.

The win, before an estimated crowd of 6,000 in the 18,000-seat arena, evened Witherspoon’s title fight record at 2-2 and made his overall record 24-2.

Tubbs got about $125,000, by far his biggest purse, for his first defense.

In a preliminary bout, Trevor Berbick, the U.S. Boxing Assn. heavyweight champion, unleashed a wicked jabbing attack to stop Mike Perkins in the fifth round.

Berbick, it was announced before the fight, will challenge Thomas on March 22 in the first of the series of bouts to unify the championship. Berbick improved his record to 30-4-1. Perkins, of Hallandale, Fla., took his 10th loss in 29 fights.

In another bout, James (Buster) Douglas took command in the second half of the fight and upset Page on a 10-round unaminous decision.