By Ian S Palmer
Former Undisputed Cruiserweight Champion Oleksandr Usyk of Ukraine battles Chazz Witherspoon of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania this Saturday, October 12th in Usyk’s heavyweight debut. The 12-round bout takes place at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago and can be seen live on DAZN in North America. The unbeaten Usyk was supposed to fight Tyrone Sapong, but Sapong had problems with his drug test. Usyk last fought in November when he stopped Tony Bellew in the eighth round while Witherspoon boxed in March and stopped Santiago Silgado after the second round.
The 32-year-old Usyk unified the cruiserweight in July of 2018 in the final of the World Boxing Super Series when he beat Murat Gassiev by unanimous decision. He became the first man ever to hold the WBO, IBF, WBA and WBC Cruiserweight Belts at the same time. He was the WBO and WBC champ when he beat Gassiev who was the IBF and WBA champ. Usyk has a perfect record of 16-0 along with 12 Kos. Usyk won the WBO Title by beating Krzysztof Glowacki by unanimous decision in September, 2016 in Poland.
He then defended it against Thabiso Mchunu with a ninth-round stoppage three months later and against Michael Hunter in April of 2017. He then stopped Marco Huck in 10 rounds before taking the WBC title from Mairis Briedis by majority decision in January, 2018. Usyk is a 6-foot-3-inch southpaw with a reach of 78 inches. He turned pro back in 2013 and has boxed 125 rounds since then. Usyk has good power as his current knockout ratio stands at 75 per cent, but he was taken the distance in four of his past seven and three of his past five outings.
The only men to last the distance with him have been Gassiev, Hunter, Glowacki and Briedis. Usyk also has victories over some relative unknowns over in Europe. He had an excellent amateur career as he competed at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China and then won the gold medal in the heavyweight division at the 2012 Games in London. He also won bronze and gold at World Amateur Championship tournaments in 2009 and 2011 respectively.
As for Witherspoon, He’s now 38 years old and enters the contest with a mark of 38-3 with 29 Kos. He’s been beaten by Seth Mitchell in 2012, Tony Thompson in 2009 and Chris Arreola in 2008. he was disqualified against Arreola and stopped by both Thompson and Mitchell. He’s won eight fights in a row, seven by stoppage, since losing to Mitchell seven years ago. Witherspoon is a cousin of former heavyweight champ Tim Witherspoon and was a National Golden Gloves Heavyweight Champion in 2004.
He’s fought 182 rounds since his pro debut in 2004 and has beaten the likes of Innocent Otukwu, Adam Richards, Travis Fulton, Ty Cobb, Michael Marrone, Galen Brown and Carlos Sandoval. Every time he’s stepped up in class he’s been beaten even though he has good power with a current knockout ratio of 70.7 per cent. He’s a big guy at 6-feet-4-inches tall, but has an unlisted reach. This gives him an inch edge in height on Usyk.
Prediction…
Both boxers have good knockout ratios but Witherspoon is basically a Grade B boxer who lacks experience on the world level. He’s on a hot streak at the moment but will have a hard time dealing with Usyk’s skills. Unless he lands a perfect punch or combination of them I don’t expect Witherspoon to beat Usyk.
