Is Bermane Stiverne the next great American Hope?

By Boxing News - 05/13/2014 - Comments

stiverne52By Gerardo Granados: Last Saturday night something unusual happened, not only that the heavyweight championship bout disputed between Chris Arreola vs. Bermane Stiverne was aired on open Television by ESPN and although there wasn’t previously a really big promotion for the fight it made well on TV ratings according to ESPN. The boxing media covered the event as if it was a big fight, it is also interesting enough to know that the contenders were not big names but they were able to wake up the interest of the fight fans to watch a heavyweight championship fight.

Just a couple of weeks ago the reigning WBA-IBF-IBO-WBO champion Wladimir Klitschko also fought and ESPN aired his fight but the bout did poorly having only a fraction of the usual viewers.

The fight was good; Chris Arreola did a good job building the interest of fight fans previous his fight. Bermane Stiverne was very emotional after winning the WBC heavyweight championship; he had fought a smart fight and won in a great fashion. But, does Stiverne possess the tools to defeat Wladimir? He has good power but his defense must be improved, I think Arreola was ahead on the score cards by the time of the stoppage and also was able to land good shots at Bermane.

It is great to see that fight fans are turning their heads to the heavyweight division once again, I wonder if the last ten years or so have opened a generational gap in the American fight fans as for his interest to watch the big boys. I am referring to as American to all the fight fans on the Continent and not exclusively to ones who live in the United States, because there was a time when a sports fan heard the name of Ali, Tyson or Holyfield and they would easily recognize them. Once there was an immense interest to watch them and now it could be the right time for the young fans to take interest back and for promoters to exploit that market. I wonder if it is possible that there are young fans going from 15 up to 25 years of age that have not developed any interest in the heavyweight division because of the lack of good American boxers in the last ten years or so?

How curious it is the fact that Promoter Don King is back in the boxing scene having the heavyweight champion once again. The reader must remember Don King promoting big events at the heavyweight division. You can easily relate his name to Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield or Riddick Bowe in the past as a promoter for their fights.

A friend of mine asked me if the heavyweight division will finally resurge in America, or is this only a mirage or a temporary illusion; because once Wladimir Klitschko gets the chance to dispute the WBC heavyweight championship belt then any interest of American fight fans will vanish again. I think time will give us all the answer for that question but for now we should just enjoy having the possibility to watch a heavyweight championship fight that in deed can be entertaining to watch.

As for if Stiverne is the next great American Hope, well I believe that right now he is, because he is the WBC champion. But, what about the reader do you think He is?



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