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No problems for Oleksandr Usyk in his heavyweight debut against a short notice opponent.
It wasn’t the opponent that Oleksandr Usyk had planned to face, but the former undisputed cruiserweight champion had an easy night’s work nevertheless.
Usyk (17-0, 13 KOs) took apart late replacement Chazz Witherspoon (38-4, 29 KOs) in front of a packed house at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois. The pro-Usyk crowd saw his fairly easy heavyweight debut last seven rounds before Witherspoon was too gassed and beaten up to continue.
Of course, Usyk was scheduled to fight former kickboxing star Tyrone Spong, but Spong failed a drug test for the banned substance clomiphene. Spong was pulled from the bout and we got a much less interesting matchup, but Usyk got the job done and showcased why he’s considered one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world.
You can watch highlights at the top of the page.
Usyk is the WBO mandatory challenger to the Andy Ruiz vs. Anthony Joshua 2 winner, but don’t expect him to face either Ruiz or Joshua next. He may even fight for a vacant belt if the Ruiz-Joshua winner takes on the IBF mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev next.