Nov 6, 2002 By Hal Bock Ap Sports Writer 3 min read

NEW YORK (AP) – Times are tough. The market is down and red ink is up. So when promoter Cedric Kushner and entrepreneur Donald Trump tossed around $50 bills as if they were confetti on Tuesday, a fistful of fighters took notice. None was named De La Hoya, Tyson or Lewis – all of whom are accustomed to larger denominations.

Still, Kushner had plenty of customers.

Grandpa Tim Witherspoon, a two-time heavyweight champion, eyed the make-believe money with more than casual interest. So did Mitch “Blood” Green, who was not invited to the party, but decided to make a guest appearance anyway and shadowboxed in the back of the room, just in case he was needed.

Boxing’s next great promotion, courtesy of Kushner, is a Nov. 30 pay-per-view show at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City carrying a winner-take-all payoff of $100,000.

For a high roller, that’s a couple of hours at the crap tables.

But these are hard times in boxing and Kushner had no trouble finding fighters happy to sign on for a bargain basement price.

Besides Witherspoon, the all-heavyweight card has undefeated Gerald Nobles; Italian Olympic bronze medalist Paolo Vidoz; Jeremy Williams; Ray Austin; Maurice Harris; Anthony Thompson; and Derrick Jefferson. The matches will be made by a blind draw two weeks before the show.

Trump, summoned from a board meeting for the event, opened an attache case to show off the loot, and then made a quick exit, probably to deal with issues carrying much higher stakes.

Kushner put a little different wrinkle on the program, inviting the eight heavyweights for a one-night box-off. There will be four quarterfinals, with the winners advancing to a pair of semifinals before the final. All are 3-round bouts.

“This is a unique situation in the world of boxing that is known to have a lot of unique situations,” explained Kushner, flanked by two models in bikinis who are not on the card.

“Times are difficult in the world of boxing in terms of television. There’s a cutback. There’s a need for creative ideas like this.”

Creativity is fine. A paycheck is better.

“I’m in because my kids like to eat,” said Thompson, who is 17-1 and father of seven. His biggest previous purse was $6,000, so $100,000 sounded pretty good. He has made as little as $600 for three rounds. Each 3-rounder on Kushner’s card pays $5,000 on top of the final fight payoff.

For Witherspoon, whose biggest payday was $800,000 to fight Ray Mercer and has made plenty less than that in other fights over a career that began in 1979, this is one more turn in a four-decade adventure.

“I’ve got to stop,” said Witherspoon, who will be 45 in December. “I don’t want to wind up in a wheelchair like Greg Page or unable to speak like Ali. I’ll have a couple of more last hurrahs, this one, maybe one more.”

He thinks about his 4-year-old granddaughter, who confronted him after he knocked out Darroll Wilson in March. “She said, “Poppa, why did you do that to that man?”‘

Witherspoon said his interest in this affair is strictly altruistic. He is doing it, he said, for the good of the game.

“I like the idea of all these young guys being involved,” he said. “I like this whole deal. I like giving them a chance.”

Then he thought about that for a moment.

“But not at my expense,” he added.