Witherspoon Scores First-Round Knockout

Heavyweight Tim Witherspoon, fighting for the first time since losing his World Boxing Assn. title, stopped Mark Wills in the first round of a scheduled 10-round bout Tuesday night.

Witherspoon, a one-round knockout victim to James (Bonecrusher) Smith last December, unloaded a series of right hands that forced referee Joe Cortez to stop it just 1:15 into the fight.

Wills, who had led his Philadelphia opponent on the scorecard before being stopped in the ninth round of a 1985 fight, started quickly in the rematch. He landed a left hook and right to the body before Witherspoon countered with a looping overhand right.

Wills retreated from the shot and caught Witherspoon’s follow-up left hooks and arcing rights. A stunned Wills covered up to try to escape Witherspoon’s uppercuts, but was vulnerable to the arcing rights.

Witherspoon, appearing sharp at 218 pounds--about 15 pounds lighter than what he weighed against Smith--showed good hand speed. The final flurry included about 20 unanswered punches.

Witherspoon won the World Boxing Council title with a 12-round decision over Greg Page in 1984, then lost the title by decision to Pinklon Thomas later that year.

Witherspoon then won the WBA crown with a 15-round decision over Tony Tubbs, but lost it to Smith. Witherspoon attributed contract squabbles with promoter Don King to his uninspired performance and subsequently lodged a $25-million lawsuit against King that is still pending.

Wills, a 26-year-old from Van Nuys, dropped to 10-8-1 with 7 knockouts. Witherspoon, 29, improved to 26-3, with 17 knockouts.