Former undisputed cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk moved up to heavyweight with a stoppage over Chazz Witherspoon after round seven of their scheduled 12-round bout at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago.
Usyk dominated the bout with quick combinations that tired out Witherspoon, who took the bout on five days notice. Witherspoon started to redden around his face and although he tried, he was outgunned and his corner pulled the plug on the bout.
Uysk, 215 lbs of Kiev, Ukraine is now 17-0 with 13 knockouts. Witherspoon is now 38-4.
Dmitry Bivol retained the WBA Light Heavyweight title with a 12-round unanimous decision over Lenin Castillo.
In round six, Bivol landed a sharp right that dropped Castillo.
Bivol was systematic and won just about every round as the scores read 120-107 and 119-108 twice.
Bivol, 174.3 lbs of St. Petersburg, RUS is 17-0. Castillo, 175 lbs of Santo Domingo, DR is 20-3-1.
Jessica McCaskill retained the WBA/WBC Super Lightweight title with a 10-round majority decision over the woman she won the titles from in Erica Farias.
The fight was very sloppy with a lot of holding, mostly from Farias.
Farias was deducted a point in round four for holding.
McCaskill was deducted a point in round six for hitting behind the head.
McCaskill, 138.7 lbs of Chicago won by scores of 97-91, 96-92 and 94-94 to raise her mark to 8-2. Farias, 138.1 lbs of Buenos Aries, ARG is 26-4.
Arthur Biyarslanov won a six-round unanimous decision over Tyrome Jones in a super lightweight battle.
In round five, Biyarslanov was bleeding from over his right eye, but landed more, and won by scores of 59-55 twice and 58-56 to raise his mark to 5-0. Jones is 4-6-1.
Anthony Sims Jr. remained perfect by stopping Morgan Fitch in round six of their scheduled 10-round super middleweight fight.
In the opening minute, Sims put Fitch down with a big right. Sims followed that up with a vicious flurry that resulted in a 2nd knockdown.
In round six, Sims landed a perfect counter right hand that buckled Fitch and was ruled a knockdown. Sims then jumped on Fitch and landed a hard four-punch flurry and the bout was stopped at 2:18.
Sims Jr., 168.5 lbs of Plainfield, IN is 20-0 with 18 knockouts, Fitch, 167.5 lbs of Pittsburgh, PA is 19-4-1.
Charles Conwell scored a vicious 10th round stoppage over Patrick Day in a junior middleweight bout.
In round four, Conwell landed a right hand that knocked Day down.
In round eight, it was a harder right hand that sent Day to the canvas. In round nine, Conwell was cut above the right eye. In round 10, Conwell landed a hard right-left combination that sent Day crashing to the canvas. The head of Day bounced hard off the deck, and he was down for several minutes. Day was taken out of the ring on a stretcher.
The time of the finish was at 1:46.
Conwell, 153.8 lbs of Cleveland, OH is 11-0 with eight knockouts. Day, 153.7 lbs of Freeport, NY is 17-4-1.
Otha Jones III won a four-round majority decision over Eric Manriquez in a super featherweight bout.
Jones, 129 lbs of Toledo, OH is 4-0. Manriquez, 130 lbs of Houston, TX is 7-9-1.
Former world champion TJ Doheny stopped Jesus Martinez at the end of round five of a scheduled eight-round super bantamweight fight.
In round one, Doheny landed a hard left that drove Martinez into the ropes that was rightfully ruled a knockdown. Doheny dominated the action and hurt Martinez on several occasions and the fight was stopped between rounds five and six,
Doheny, 124 lbs of Bondi Junction, AUS is now 24-1 with 16 knockouts. Martinez, 124 lbs of Monteria, COL 26-10.
