ON October 22 former two-time heavyweight champion of the world “Terrible” Tim Witherspoon will take on a man who has never previously boxed in a six-round main event at the O2 in London. In the opposite corner will be 34-year-old Jim Hemmings, an accomplished football coach who has worked with premier league club Tottenham Hotspurs among others. Londoner Jim faces a daunting task in taking on the former WBA and WBC champion, who retired in 2003 with an outstanding 55-13-1 (38) record. Witherspoon fought the likes of Larry Holmes, Ray Mercer and James “Bonecrusher” Smith amongst many others during a career spanning 24 years.
In an event organised chiefly on social-networking site Facebook, several fighters from past and present compete with each other with all proceeds going to Cancer Research.
Although Jim has never boxed, the married father-of-six is a massive fight fan who has followed the sport all of his adult life. His all-time favourite fighter is Thomas “Hitman” Hearns. Jim, 5’10”, will be dwarfed somewhat by the 6’3” (approximately) 250 lb Witherspoon, but is training very hard for his big fight.
Undisputed caught up with Jim, who has already shed an incredible 28lbs with intense fight-training, to see how preparation was coming along.
1) Hey Jim how is training coming along?
JH) It’s going incredible, very hard going. I know I’ll be giving weight away (in the fight) to Tim but I’m hoping to come in at 14 st (196 lbs). I’ve slated some boxers in the past for lack of effort etc but I have a new respect for fighters for what they have to go through before they even get into the ring.
2) Have you had any communication with Tim in the run-up to your show-down?
JH) Yeah we met a while back. He’s currently back home in Philadelphia now. We’ve spoken on Facebook a few times. I said to him “I’m bringing my A game on the night”, he replied “you can bring your A, B and C game I’ll still win!”
He’s still in great shape; always in training. For a big guy he’s very fit, whenever he comes over to London, he’s always in the gym working out.
3) Have you seen many of Witherspoon’s fights?
JH) Yes I’ve seen a lot of his fights. The one I remember best is the Frank Bruno fight at Wembley (Tim stopped Frank in the eleventh round; his only ever successful title defence). I’ve stopped watching tapes of him now, I’ve seen quite enough of that big over-hand right!
4) Have you thought of tactics you may employ during the exhibition?
JH) What I’m basically working on is keeping on the move, not standing toe-to-toe. I’ll keep light on my feet but I’m not going to run either; I want people to know I’ve worked hard getting ready. If I stand there he’ll batter me but I’m coming to win.
5) How is the event shaping up for October 22?
JH) It’s looking great, (former Southern Area champion) Georgie Smith takes on Lee “Zammo” MacDonald in the chief support. There’s also several other fights on the undercard. Jamie Wood is also on the card. He was a promising amateur boxer who kept suffering head aches in sparring, he had it checked out and it turned out to be a brain tumour. Even though he’s only 18 or 19-years-old, and suffering a terrible illness, he’s kept training. He’s an inspiration and looking forward to boxing on the bill (Wood is rumoured to be facing non-other-than British lightweight champion Kevin Mitchell).
We’ve also hopefully got some first-class referee’s too; Duke McKenzie is refereeing my fight and Richie Woodhall is doing Jamie’s contest.
Cancer is an illness close to my heart; I lost my Grandfather when I was thirteen. That’s the first time I’d ever heard of the word Cancer. When I was a bit older my wife’s mother passed away, which was a big shock to all of the family. Anyway, last year my father passed away suddenly. He went into hospital with a cough on the Monday; he passed away on the Thursday. They’d talked about treatment; chemo therapy etc but there was no time it was a hell of a shock to us all.
6) How did it happen you boxing for charity?
JH) After my Dad died I hated everything, I was so angry and devastated. Then one day I saw a young kid called John-Joe raising money for charity on the internet. John-Joe was ten-years-old and doing a sponsored walk and ended up raising £20,000 for charity. It inspired me to take up a challenge for something I believed in. I tried to organise a charity football event and various other things but ended up getting in the ring!
For tickets to the “Charity Brawl” please call 07894835133. Tickets are £30 (seated) and £20 (standing). You can also visit Jim’s charity page at: – http://www.justgiving.com/Jim-Hemmings
Undisputed wishes all the organisers and fighters involved the very best of luck raising money for Cancer Research and hopes the evening is a big success.
Photo credit: whoisintown.co.uk
Speak Your Mind