And a good day to you too, sir:
First, as I think you know (or at least you should) that the rankings of the sanctioning bodies in that era essentially managed to fit the pleasure of the top promoters of the time. This is particularly true of Mike Tyson's promoter, Don King and then WBC President Jose Sulaiman, who was memorably described as Don King's "junior partner," and King had similar influence with the WBA and IBF, known then as the "Illicit Boxing Federation," where leadership basically sold rankings to competing promoters like the Duvas and others.
SO when I said that Holyfield was the #1 contender, I was referring to The Ring rankings of 1988 and 1989, where he was indeed the top-ranked fighter behind Tyson.
But that brings me to my core points, he was widely understood to have ducked Evander Holyfield from 88-90, and they probably ducked Witherspoon as well. to wit:
1) First, Witherspoon was plenty salty at 30.
2) Except styles make fights and Tyson struggled with guys like Tim Witherspoon
3) Bonecrusher Smith one of 3 very good fighters (along with Pinklon Thomas and Spoon) who matched up in interesting ways with each other, but I don't have to tell you that because styles make fights, the fact that he handled Tim Withersoon and Tyson handled him is not a reason to believe that Tyson would have handled Spoon.
4) Yes, because Don King was seriously interested in producing an on-the-level tournament to produce a true and enduring champion. Forged, as it were, of a hotter fire.
First lets go back to the Ring rankings. There are two people in the top 10 the entire time from 1986-1991. One is Mike Tyson. The other is Tim Witherspoon who was also managed by Don King. That's not an accident. Witherspoon (assuming he was motivated and in shape) would have frustrated Tyson in the extreme with his defense and jab, tied him up, leaned on him, and not allowed Tyson to step under his punches. At the very least they go the distance and it would have been ugly. And that's why their mutual promoter Don King didn't make the match. And by thw way - Mike Tyson wasn't making these decision, as I'm sure you know very well, and the idea that Don King was protecting any fighter, let alone Tim Witherspoon is nonsense. Don King protected Don King. His fighters were victims, not clients.