Gashed out

Monday, Oct. 4, 2004 | 10:14 a.m.

During his two stints as world heavyweight champion in the 1980s, Tim Witherspoon was known for his ability to punch people out with his strong right hand.

On Saturday night, he showed he's equally adept in the art of the backhanded compliment.

Heavyweight contender Wladimir Klitschko had just won by technical split decision against DaVarryl Williamson at Caesars Palace -- and Witherspoon was underwhelmed by the performance.

"I'd come back right now and fight the winner of Larry Holmes-George Foreman," 46-year-old Witherspoon said. "But either one of these guys tonight? I'd probably have to train three, four months, at least."

It wasn't immediately clear if he was kidding.

The bout was stopped at the end of Round 5 due to an accidental head butt that left Klitschko bleeding from a cut above his right eye.

The untimely conclusion came one round after Williamson recorded the fight's only knockdown, sending the 6-foot-5 Ukrainian to the canvas with a short overhand right.

Afterward Williamson stated his case for a rematch with Klitschko, who previously held the WBO heavyweight title for 2 1/2 years and insists he still has the goods to climb the ranks and become undisputed champ one day.

"I felt like I was the winner," said Williamson, 36, who's from a tough neighborhood in East Washington, D.C., and currently fights out of Denver. "Round 6 was looking really, really good. I was just (about) to impose my will. ... I would love to have an opportunity to do it again."

Two judges -- Chuck Giampa and Jerry Roth -- had Klitschko winning 49-46. Doug Tucker scored it 48-47 in favor of Williamson.

The Sun's scorecard had it 48-46 for Klitschko.

"I was hanging in there in the first couple of rounds, and I thought in Rounds 7, 8, 9 and 10 I would take control," Williamson (20-3, 17 knockouts) said. "We have some unfinished business."

Williamson said Klitschko (43-3, 39 KOs) never hurt him.

"I'm very surprised Wladimir has 39 knockouts," Williamson said. "He got my attention, but I was not hurt. I'm as healthy as a horse. No injuries, no lacerations. I could fight again next week."

A little later, in response, Klitschko smirked and rolled his eyes.

"Pff, yeah," Klitschko said. "He was never hurt."

Indeed, throughout the first three rounds Klitschko jabbed effectively to set up several powerful straight rights to Williamson's head.

"He got to me with one clean shot (the knockdown), but it was easy to get to him when he stopped moving," said Klitschko, a minus 430 favorite in Caesars' sports book. "I would have liked to have knocked him out instead of having it end on a cut."

It takes two sides to make a rematch, though, and Team Klitschko wasn't prepared to budge.

"I see no reason to fight Williamson again," said Klitschko, 28, who resides in Las Vegas and Hamburg, Germany. "I don't feel I lost the fight."

Klitschko's trainer Emanuel Steward was blunt, and not a little ticked off, in his assessment of the bout.

"Willliamson had one good punch, otherwise he ran like a (expletive) rabbit all night," Steward said. "The knockdown was the only damn thing he scored all night. Then, at the end of the round, he was clinching so bad we practically had to break his arms off to get him to let go.

"I have no doubt Wladimir would have knocked him out in the sixth round. ... I do not look forward to any rematch. This is not a fight I would be interested in doing again."

So the main event was halted prematurely because of a freak clash of heads. Many in the crowd of 4,100 went home grumbling. More questions were raised than were answered about the winner's proper place in the hierarchy of the sport's showcase division.

And one of the game's retired elder statesmen threatened to whip himself into shape, come back to the ring and teach everyone a lesson.

In the muddled world of heavyweight boxing, in other words, it was just another Saturday night.

The first two fights in the featured tripleheader marked the opening of Caesars' outdoor Roman Plaza Amphitheatre in a more satisfying fashion. The arena sits in front of the resort, hard by the northwest corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo Road.

Jeff Lacy (17-0, 14 KOs) stopped Syd Vanderpool (35-3) in the eighth round to win the IBF super middleweight title, becoming the first member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic boxing team to win a world championship.

"This was my Olympics tonight," Lacy said. "This was my gold medal."

In an IBF junior middleweight title bout, Kassim Ouma (20-1-1) outpointed Verno Phillips (38-10-1) in a unanimous decision.

Witherspoon, one of Ouma's trainers, said the victory should put Ouma in line to face the winner of the Nov. 20 fight between Shane Mosley and Winky Wright. Ouma said he'd gladly fight Mosley, Wright, Fernando Vargas or "whoever the IBF puts in front of me."