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Card subject to change Witherspoon withdraws from fight after traffic accident
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) - Former WBC heavyweight champion Tim Witherspoon has been scratched from a 10-round fight Saturday after being injured in a traffic accident. Fight organizers said Witherspoon suffered cuts and bruises on his forehead Monday when his car and another were struck by a motorist who ran a red light. Witherspoon, whose head punctured the windshield of his car, wanted to fight anyway but a doctor and his trainer talked him out of it, in part for fear the cuts would open in the ring, causing a stoppage. The cuts didn't require stitches but were clearly visible Thursday during an interview. "The doctors said all you have to do is get slapped and they'll start bleeding," said his trainer, Slim Robinson. Mario Cawley, 30, of Chicago, will replace Witherspoon against Monte Barrett, 29, of Queens, N.Y., promoter Murad Muhammad said Thursday. Neither Cawley nor Barrett attended a news conference previewing the fight Thursday, leaving only Witherspoon, Muhammad and Bally's Park Place president Kenneth Condon to talk about what might have been. "We don't believe in canceling fights here at Bally's," Condon said. Promoters scrambled for a willing, in-shape replacement for the former two-time champion and ended up with Cawley, who agreed to it Wednesday. The 5-foot-11 inch, 214-pound Cawley (10-8) has lost six of his last seven fights, most recently a Nov. 28 decision to Josue Blocus in Las Vegas. Barrett (23-2) is coming off a July 15 loss to Wladimir Klitschko, who stopped him in the seventh round. "It's a crossroads fight for him," said his manager, Joe DeGuardia. "He wants to get back into title contention." Muhammad said Barrett hopes to fight Witherspoon (48-10-1) later this year. "I'm upset," Witherspoon said. "Everything was staged for my comeback. I was going to knock him out."
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