WBC orders Deontay Wilder vs. Bermane Stiverne II fight

By Boxing News - 02/27/2017 - Comments

Image: WBC orders Deontay Wilder vs. Bermane Stiverne II fight

By Scott Gilfoid: The World Boxing Council has ordered WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder to face #1 WBC Bermane Stiverne for next mandatory challenger. Depending on how you look at the World Boxing Council’s decision to install the 38-year-old Stiverne as the 6’7” Wilder’s mandatory, it could be either good news or bad news.

The fact of the matter is Stiverne (25-2-1, 21 KOs) is a former WBC heavyweight champion, and he did give Wilder (38-0, 37 KOs) his toughest fight of his 9-year pro career in their fight on January, 2017. Wilder beat Stiverne by a 12 round unanimous decision, but the final scores didn’t accurately show tough the fight was for the 6’7” Wilder.

It was definitely a hard fight, and it was one in which Wilder had to stay on his bike for the full 12 rounds after he fractured his right hand in round 4. As most boxing fans already know, Deontay’s main weapon in his offensive arsenal is his right hand or at least it was back in 2015 when he fought the 6’2” Stiverne. With Wilder fighting largely with just his left hand, he was able to box his way to a one-sided decision by the scores 118-109, 119-108 and 120-107.

The main negative for Stiverne being Wilder’s new mandatory challenger is the fact that Stiverne has been so inactive since 2015. He’s fought only once since the Wilder fight in struggling to beat high level journeyman Derric Rossy by a 10 round unanimous decision on November 14.

Stiverne was shockingly knocked down in round 1 of that fight, and he had to labor to win the fight by the scores 86-93, 96-93 and 95-94. Some boxing fans see that close fight as an indication that Stiverne has slipped a notch since his loss to Wilder. I think it’s more of a case of Rossy being a very tough journeyman fighter. You’ve got to bring your A-game to the ring when you fight Rossy, because you can’t just show up and expect to trounce him like you would normal 2nd tier fighters.

Stiverne was dehydrated the night that he fought Wilder, and in no condition to fight at high level. There’s been a lot of questions how a heavyweight could let himself become dehydrated going into a big fight. Usually, it’s the other weight classes that have fighters that dehydrate themselves in order to make weight. Heavyweights don’t need to make weight in the same manner. Stiverne just didn’t drink enough fluids for the fight. He can’t have that problem for the rematch if he wants to have a chance of winning.

The negotiations between Wilder and Stiverne could drag out for a while like they in 2015. It took a while for the fight to finally get made. I would expect the negotiations to be tough once again.

Stiverne was going to face Alexander Povetkin last December, but he pulled out of the fight after the Russian heavyweight tested positive for a banned substance. That fight would have been a good one for Stiverne to show the boxing public that he deserves a second match against Wilder.

Without Stiverne having earned the rematch with Wilder by beating someone talented, it’s likely going to prevent the Wilder-Stiverne contest from attracting a lot of interest from the fans. It’s still going to be a good fight, but it’s probably not going to excite the boxing fans like it did when the two fought each other in 2015.