Is Tyrone Spong Dirty or Clean? Usyk Will Fight On

What does Oleksandr Usyk have to do to get a heavyweight fight? Since cleaning out the cruiserweight division last November, the reigning Fighter of the Year‘s career has been on ice as he was hoping for more high-level competition at heavyweight.

After a series of boxing drama, Usyk was all set to make his heavyweight debut against Tyrone Spong this Saturday night Wintrust Arena in Chicago.

Not so fast. The (allegedly) “dirty” Spong got tossed after he failed a drug test this week. The former kickboxer tested positive for the banned substance clomiphene, a women’s fertility drug that can also be used by athletes to boost performance or mast other drugs. Both Jon Jones and Brock Lesnar have been popped for the drug.

Spong is a legendary kickboxer, who became a national hero in his native Suriname before crossing-over to MMA, and now boxing. Spong might not be fighting this weekend, but he let his hands fly over Twitter after learning of the ban:

I’m shocked by the alleged test results disclosed by VADA and tweeted out by Mr @EddieHearn. I vehemently deny that I have ever taken the substance named in VADA’s report. I have asked for testing of the B sample at a laboratory of my choosing. Testing performed last week at the

— TyroneSpong (@Tyrone_spong) October 8, 2019

request of the Illinois Boxing Commission
showed, what I’ve always known, that I’m a clean fighter. I ask Matchroom to publicly acknowledge that I tested negative for all performance enhancing substances just a few days ago. Any adverse finding is impossible and in my opinion a

— TyroneSpong (@Tyrone_spong) October 8, 2019

manipulative attempt to remove me from this fight. I voluntarily agreed to VADA testing because I have nothing to hide. I will not rest until I’m absolved of this outlandish allegation and will pursue all legal avenues available to me

— TyroneSpong (@Tyrone_spong) October 8, 2019

While Spong deserves a shot to clear his name, the fight against Usyk is not going to happen. The Illinois athletic commission is refusing to license him following the positive test.

For Matchroom Boxing, finding Usyk a heavyweight opponent has been harder than picking a movie to watch on Netflix. Originally, the plan was for the Ukranian to fight Russian star Alexander Povetkin this past spring. When that fell through due to injuries and political overtones, Usyk was paired against long-time heavyweight contender Carlos Takam. That didn’t work out either. Finally, Spong vs. Usyk was announced, and we finally thought that was it. How naive.

Usyk knows who he wants at heavyweight. 😈 pic.twitter.com/eoapxse7jC

— DAZN USA (@DAZN_USA) July 25, 2019

Thankfully for Usyk, the fight will go on. Replacing Spong will be 38-year-old heavyweight Chazz Witherspoon, no relation to Reese Witherspoon, but is the cousin of former heavyweight champ (and Kelly Rowland’s beau) Tim Witherspoon.

NEW OPPONENT 👊 #UsykWitherspoon@usykaa will now face Chazz Witherspoon (38-3, 29 KOs) in his long-awaited Heavyweight debut on Saturday night!

🏟 @WintrustArena, Chicago
🗓 Oct 12 pic.twitter.com/ZrmiWK2p9c

— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) October 8, 2019

So far, the highlight of Witherspoon’s career has been fighting on the Bernard Hopkins-Chad Dawson undercard in 2012, in a losing effort to Seth Mitchell.

If you’re still interested in watching, tune into DAZN this Saturday. Enjoy the fight!