Oleksandr Usyk’s first step chasing titles in boxing’s heavyweight division was a successful one on October 12 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago. The former undisputed cruiserweight world champion and 2018 consensus fighter of the year conducted a surgical dissection, methodically breaking down his short-notice opponent, Chazz Witherspoon, with a seventh-round TKO after Witherspoon retired after the seventh round.
Witherspoon replaced Tyrone Spong (14-0, 13 KO) of the Netherlands earlier in the week after Spong tested positive for the banned substance clomiphene. Witherspoon offered little resistance in the bout, playing the role of a glorified sparring partner for Usyk, who was shaking off ring rust after being inactive for almost a year.
The Ukrainian secured his first heavyweight victory on manager Egis Klimas’ 55th birthday.
Witherspoon (38-4, 29 KO) was riding an eight-fight winning streak during a sporadic fighting schedule and had a substantial size advantage at 6-foot-4, 242 pounds to Usyk’s 6-foot-3, 215 pounds. The southpaw Usyk (17-0, 13 KO) was by far the better-conditioned and more skilled boxer. The 2012 Olympic gold medalist is one of boxing’s top-rated fighters in the world pound for pound.
“I was waiting for this moment,” Usyk said in a post-match media session. “We had some little difficulties because we had to change opponents. I didn’t show it to anybody, but I had some bad thoughts float into my head. I just prayed a little bit, I asked him to help me and it looks like he helped me.”
The favorite of the heavily Ukrainian crowd of 9,073, Usyk was coming off an 11-month layoff and took a few rounds to find his groove. When he did, Usyk found a home for his quick right jab and straight left hand against a much slower opponent. He showed power in the third round and began ramping up the activity in the fifth, landing lethal combinations to Witherspoon’s head and body. Witherspoon’s attempts to counter found Usyk too slick to catch, resulting in the Philadelphia native getting fatigued.
By the seventh round his opponent was ripe for the picking, and Usyk took full advantage by bouncing punches off the head and body of the worn-down Witherspoon. The latter was by then unable to land anything significant and simply kept absorbing punishment. By the end of the round, it was obvious Witherspoon had no chance and would not answer the bell for the next frame.
Usyk formally announced his arrival in the land of the giants with his victory. He landed 139 of 347 punches (40 percent), while Witherspoon connected on merely 21 out of 208 blows (10 percent).
Usyk, 32, originally was scheduled to make his heavyweight debut against former world title challenger Carlos Takam (37-5, 28 KO) on May 25, but Usyk suffered a torn right biceps, delaying his entrance into the division until October 12, when he risked his position as a mandatory challenger for a title shot versus the winner of the December 7 rematch between unified heavyweight world titleholder Andy Ruiz Jr. (33-1, 22 KO) of the U.S.A. and ex-titlist Anthony Joshua (22-1, 21 KO) of Great Britain.
His ultimate goal is to become the undisputed heavyweight champion as he did last year at cruiserweight, when he became the first fighter in division history to unify all four belts in the four-belt era. Following his defense of the four cruiserweight belts with a knockout of Tony Bellew (30-3, 20 KO) of Great Britain in November 2018, Usyk relinquished the titles and announced his move to heavyweight.
He now looks forward to a world title chance in 2020 because of his status as a mandatory challenger.
“I am ready. I am ready to fight whoever,” Usyk said after the Witherspoon dismantling. “If they give me the mandatory (title shot), then of course I am ready to take it.”