Oleksandr Usyk (16-0) will fight Chazz Witherspoon (38-3) this Saturday night in Chicago, US.
The Ukrainian fighter was supposed to face Tyrone Spong, but yesterday it became clear that Spong has violated VADA’s banned substance list and got caught with clomiphene.
BREAKING: Chazz Witherspoon has replaced Tyrone Spong as the opponent for Oleksandr Usyk on October 12 🥊 #UsykWitherspoon pic.twitter.com/3zGjTBvc8Y
— DAZN USA (@DAZN_USA) October 8, 2019
Usyk’s heavyweight debut will be against a boxing vet who made his pro debut 15 years ago. Witherspoon,38, is a second-tier heavyweight and had two fights since March 2018.
Usyk, 32, was the undisputed cruiserweight champion of the world and now he’s the mandatory challenger for the WBO belt. The whole idea of a fight against such a boxer is to get Oleksandr one fight under his belt before he’s been ordered to face Andy Ruiz Jr. or Anthony Joshua.
Here’s what Usyk had to say on the Spong fiasco:
“I knew you were going to ask me a question on the first one, and I don’t even want to talk about it because it’s very dirty stuff,” said Usyk to IFL TV.
“We don’t even really need to talk about that.”