THE first fight at heavyweight for world cruiserweight champions is always designed to test the terrain. It’s generally a careful step to ensure the subsequent step, an altogether more dangerous one, can be taken confidently.
Taking the theme to extremes, Oleksandr Usyk, the Ukrainian ring wizard whose arrival in the banner division has long been craved, walked through a plucky but overmatched Chazz Witherspoon in seven rounds inside the Chicago Wintrust Arena.