Witherspoon learns from first professional ring
loss
Post fight Interview
DON BENEVENTO
Courier-Post
Staff
June 23, 2008
Chazz Witherspoon, the Paulsboro heavyweight,
has succeeded to this point in his pro career by
practicing the more cerebral side of boxing to
go along with his punching power.
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So he knew it would be a mistake if got into a
punch-trading brawl with the powerful Chris
Arreola. But Witherspoon could not avoid such a
confrontation, and that led to his first defeat.
On Saturday night Witherspoon fell to 23-1 when
he was disqualified by referee Randy Phillips
after the third round of his scheduled 12-round
bout against Arreola (24-0, 22 knockouts), of
Memphis, Tenn.
"It was my stupidity to try to fight his type of
fight," Witherspoon said after the referee
stopped the bout when Witherspoon's corner men
entered the ring before the end of the third
round.
Even though the bell had sounded, apparently
ending the third round, Witherspoon was in the
midst of taking an 8-count after being knocked
down for the second time in the round.
According to boxing rules, the round is not
completed until the count is completed, and the
referee signals the end of the round.
"I'm giving the eight-count, the bell rings, and
they entered the ring, they can't do that,"
Phillips told HBO, which televised the fight.
"The bell shouldn't have rung, really, but
there's nothing I can do about that. I'm more
concerned about the fighter."
Witherspoon took a pounding in both the first
and third rounds, but he got in some good shots
of his own and he probably won the second round.
"I came out in the second round, and I jabbed
and that's the way I saw the whole fight,"
Witherspoon said. "But in the third round, I got
caught up and started trading with him and that
was dumb. That's the inexperience I have coming
out."
Though disappointed, he seemed alert after the
bout.
"I recover really fast," he said when asked
whether he felt he could have continued.
However, he was not given that option.
As the HBO camera showed Witherspoon in his
corner after the round, he seemed stunned to
learned that the fight was over.
"What's happening," he said.
"Chazz didn't stick to the game-plan," his
father and manager Eric Witherspoon said. "What
he did in the second round, we wanted him to do
for the first six rounds. But he got caught up
in the firth and his let his pride take over and
he started to go toe-to-toe."
Witherspoon was rocked early in the fight by a
right hand in the first round, and then it
seemed like he was out on his feet by the end of
the third, which Arreola closed by landing three
lefts.
"I got hit, I got buzzed," he said. "I tried to
grab (Arreola), and he stepped back and I fell."
Witherspoon seemed to flounder on the canvas
early in the count, but he eventually got up,
and seemed prepared to continue before the
disqualification.
"Next time I'll do better," he said. "You
haven't seen the end of me."
Reach Don Benevento at
dbenevento@courierpostonline.com
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