(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) By Scott Gilfoid: Deontay Wilder (32-0, 32 KOs) expects not only to soundly beat WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KOs) this Saturday night in their title fight, but also put many of his team members out of work at the same time with the victory at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Deontay wants to beat 6’2” Stiverne in such a convincing manner that his team members will be out of work.
“I am super-confident and I can’t wait. Someone is going to lose their job. I am going to put his whole team out of commission. That’s my promise,” Deontay said.
That would be interesting if Stiverne either cleaned out his team after a knockout loss to Deontay, or his team members abandoned ship after he lost his title, leaving one by one.
You never know. Stiverne hasn’t been the most active of heavyweight sin the past four years with him fighting just once a year in most of the years. It’s not as if his team members would likely be kept busy if he were to lose to Deontay by a knockout.
At 36, Stiverne isn’t a spring chicken anymore and it’s not as if he has a lot of time left to get a lot of fights in, especially with him fighting just once a year. His promoter Don King needs to keep Stiverne busy because he’s going to age out if he’s only fighting once a year.
There’s a lot of boxing fans who wonder whether Deontay can fight beyond four rounds, as none of his previous 32 opponents have been able to make it past four against him. It’s not that he’s faced nothing but soft guys.
It’s more of a case of Wilder being so powerful and explosive that his opponents can’t handle his power for more than 1-4 rounds. He’s knocked out guys in lightning fashion who have never been knocked out like that before or since. That’s obviously not by accident.
“Going past four rounds? That is nothing. Twelve rounds is an appetizer for me. I train for a four-course meal. That is nothing for me. Nothing in the back of my mind says I can’t go past four rounds,” Deontay said.
Wilder says he frequently spars for 12 rounds in training, and he shows no signs of wearing down. You’ve got to believe that if he can spar hard for 12 rounds without gassing out, then he can do it in a live fight against somebody. But it’s going to be difficult for his opponent Stiverne to take Deontay’s power for 12 rounds if he’s keeping his distance and nailing Stiverne with 10+ monstrous head shots per round.
If Chris Arreola had Stiverne hurt in his last fight, then Deontay is going to be a real threat to Stiverne in this fight. Arreola is a slapper without much punching power, and yet he had Stiverne shaken on the ropes at one point in the fight.
Just by controlling the distance and being the one that’s landing the power shots in every round, Deontay could take Stiverne’s spirit and eventually get him out of there after he becomes punch drunk from the right hands Deontay keeps hitting him with.
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