By Jim Dower: Heavyweight contender Tony Thompson (33-2, 20 KO’s) was too much for fringe contender Chazz Witherspoon (26-1, 18 KOs) tonight, stopping him in the 9th round at the Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey. Thompson, 38, battered Witherspoon with right hooks and straight lefts until the fight was stopped at 2:13 with Witherspoon still on his feet but badly hurt. Shortly before the stoppage, Thompson hard hurt Witherspoon an earlier series of big shots that caused Witherspoon to back up to the ropes.
The referee then jumped in between Witherspoon and Thompson and gave Withersoon a standing eight count. Had he not done that, Thompson most definitely would have ended the fight right there and then. As it was, he had to wait a little longer, long enough to throw one more combination that caused the referee to step in and halt the bout.
On paper, this fight looked as if it might be a competitive one. After all, Thompson is 38-years-old, the much older fighter and the one who was stopped last year in the 11th round by IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko and took a lot of punishment in that fight. However, Thompson seemed to have too much size for Witherspoon to handle, and Tony’s southpaw style coupled with his long arms had Witherspoon in way over his head in this fight.
In the opening round, Thompson bombed away at Witherspoon from long range, hitting him with nice shots and keeping enough distance that Witherspoon wasn’t able to land his own shots. Witherspoon looked tentative and afraid for the most part, as if he knew he was in over his head in this fight and was going to be as careful as he could to avoid getting hit with anything big from Thompson.
Thompson began to walk Witherspoon down in the 2nd round, cutting off the ring and landing hard left hands. Witherspoon was no match for Thompson’s offensive fire power in the round and ended up taking a lot of shots in the round.
The third round was all Thompson, as he unloaded on Witherspoon with left hand after left hand to the head. Witherspoon seemed like a pupil going up against a teacher. It was no contest at this point in the fight, as Witherspoon wasn’t landing anything at all.
Thompson put on a left hand clinch in the 4th and 5th rounds, drilling Witherspoon with pretty much nothing but his left hands. Thompson would land an occasional right hook when Witherspoon was feeling brave enough to try and land something. However, those times were few and far in between.
In the 6th and 7th rounds, Thompson smothered Witherspoon, staying close to him and landing a lot of left hands. Witherspoon could have landed some shots of his own if he chose to let his hands go. However, he seemed more intent on just trying to protect himself and prevent Thompson from landing his shots through his gloves. It really didn’t matter. Thompson was landing his punches through Witherspoons’ guard anyway. By this time in the fight, I thought that Witherspoon’s corner might want to step in and stop the fight because he was getting beaten up and not really throwing anything back at Thompson.
Witherspoon’s right eye began to swell up by the 8th, as he had taken a lot of punishment from Thompson. Unfortunately, the punishment continued in the 8th and 9th rounds with Thompson seeing off on Witherspoon all the way until the bout was finally halted in the 9th.