clarinews@clarinet.com (LISA HARRIS, UPI Sports Writer) (01/12/90)
ATLANTIC CITY N.J. (UPI) -- Tim Witherspoon and Tyrell Biggs, former heavyweight champions seeking to make the long trip back to a title shot, took divergent routes to victory Thursday night. Witherspoon stopped Jeff Sims after five rounds when ring physicians Frank Doggett and Paul Williams ruled Sims was too dazed to come out for the sixth round. Biggs, the 1984 Olympic super heavyweight gold medalist, defeated Ossie Ocasio in an unimpressive 10-round, unanimous decision. Ocasio took the fight on a week's notice after Carl ``The Truth'' Williams had to pull out with a back injury suffered during training. Witherspoon, 31-3 with 21 knockouts, knocked down Sims in the first minute with a big right and staggered him in the fourth. He said it was his choice not to put away Sims, whose right eye was cut in the final round. ``I needed that time in the ring,'' said Witherspoon, whose last fight was a first-round knockout of Anders Eklund Oct. 19. The Sims bout was Witherspoon's second in almost a year and fourth since Oct., 1987. ``I needed to get out the ring rust,'' Witherspoon said. ``When I found out I had control, I wanted to feel the ring out. I felt like I could take him out whenever I wanted. Those rounds really gave me confidence. ``I don't think a first-round knockout benefits me and also, after Eklund, Jeff Sims was the 27th guy (approached), 26 guys turned it down -- including (George) Foreman.'' Witherspoon's manager, Dennis Rappaport, then announced he would guarantee the winner of Foreman's fight Monday night against Gerry Cooney a purse of $2 1-2 million. He went on to bill Witherspoon as ``Mike Tyson's nightmare.'' ``He has the guts, the style, the chin and the punch,'' Rappaport said. Sims, 35, from Miami, dropped to 22-6 with 20 knockouts. Ocasio spoke through a Spanish interpreter and claimed he was ``robbed.'' Biggs won 98-93, 98-93 and 97-93 on the judges' cards and showed little life until the 10th round. ``You can fall into crowd-pleasing things and walk into problems,'' said Biggs, who lost the heavyweight title to Tyson in Oct, 1987. ``From one to 10, I'd say (this performance was) a seven, six and-a-half,'' said Biggs, 28, from Philadelphia. He improved to 16-3 with 11 knockouts while Ocasio, 33, from San Juan, Puerto Rico, fell to 33-6 with 21 knockouts.