By Scott Gilfoid: If WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KO’s) wants to avoid fighting his WBC mandatory challenger Deontay Wilder (31-0, 31 KO’s) next then it’s going to cost him some big cash in order to make that happen, says Deontay. He wants $10 million to step aside so that Stiverne can fight someone like IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko or whoever else that Stiverne and his promoter Don King might have in mind for him to fight next, according to RingTV.
Obviously that kind of money is far too prohibitive for Stiverne to side step the talented 6’7″ Deontay, so he’s pretty much going to have to take that fight with him unless he can find $10 million somewhere.
Deontay doesn’t want to be sidestepped by Stiverne, so he’s not making it easy for him to buy him off for cheap. The thing is if Deontay gets bypassed, then his job will become potentially much tougher to try and win the WBC title, because Stiverne will likely fight Wladimir, and promptly get knocked out in short order.
Deontay would then have to fight Wladimir for the WBC title, which would make it all the more difficult for him due to WLadimir’s size, speed, power and experience. That’s not to say that Deontay couldn’t knock Wladimir out quickly just as the hard hitting Corrie Sanders did in the past, but it would still be a potentially more difficult fight than it would be for him to simply face the short 6’2″ Stiverne and dominate him to take his WBC strap the easy way. But one of the bad things about Deontay agreeing to take a step aside payment is that he might end up waiting well over a year to get his shot at the WBC title if Wladimir beats Stiverne.
There would likely be a rematch clause in the contract, so that Stiverne could get a second shot against Wladimir in the event that he lost his WBC strap to him. In the meantime, Deontay would be waiting and waiting for ages to get his shot at the WBC title. It’s smarter for Deontay to say no to the step aside money unless it’s $10 million, and then go ahead and beat Stiverne this year. Deontay could then be the one to fight Wladimir in a unification match and get huge cash for that fight, and possibly pick up Wladimir’s IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO titles at the same time.
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