By Scott Gilfoid: Heavyweight Malik Scott is picking #1 WBC Deontay Wilder (32-0, 32 KOs) to KO WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KOs) in their fight in two weeks from now on January 14th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Scott, who was knocked out in the 1st round by Deontay earlier last year in April, thinks that Stiverne has problems with taller fighters that use their height to fight tall and not get down to their shorter opponent’s level.
Malik especially likes Deontay’s right hand power, as he believes that’s going to be a potent weapon for him against the 6’2” Stiverne when the two start firing shots. Deontay has got one of the best right hands in the division, and it’s going to be a problem for Stiverne if he gets hit with too many of those big right hands.
“I got the fight 70-30 for Wilder,” Scott said via esnewsreporting.com. “Reason I say that is because I know Stiverne and his trainer and they have been working but Stiverne doesn’t deal with rangy guys good enough for me to think he’s going to beat Deontay; someone who’s 6’7” who fights tall. He’s got the right hand equalizer. Unfortunately that’s going to be too much for Stiverne.”
It’s not like Stiverne hasn’t been knocked out before. In 2007, journeyman Demetrice King got in the trenches with Stiverne and chopped him down in just four rounds after taking some big shots from him. We found out in that fight that Stiverne doesn’t take shots nearly as well as he gives them.
Since that fight, Stiverne has been in with mostly weaker opponents. The best guys he’s fought have been Ray Austin and Chris Arreola. That’s it. Some boxing fans like to point to Stiverne’s experience as being better than Deontay’s, but when you look at the guys that Stiverne has fought during his 10-year pro career the only guys that stick out are Arreola and Austin.
The rest of the guys are 2nd and 3rd tier opposition with mediocre records. Austin mostly dominated Stiverne until getting knocked out in the 10th round. Arreola fought a dumb fight on both occasions against Stiverne by standing directly in front of him and going to war instead of picking his spots to exchange.
Deontay’s size will give Stiverne problems in this fight, especially if Deontay stays on the outside and bombs him with right hands. Stiverne will be able to take some of them, but not 12 rounds worth. If he was hurt by Arreola and knocked out by King, then it stands to reason that Stiverne will be on the canvas well before the 12th round.
This would be a good fight for the 6’7” Deontay to display his long jab, because this is one where he might need it at some point. He’s got a jab, but just doesn’t use it very often. He also has a nice little left hook that he throws with a lot of speed. He doesn’t get his weight under it the way he needs to in order to generate more power, but the speed of the punch creates its own power.
Comments are closed.