Deontay Wilder ready for Jason Gavern

By Boxing News - 08/12/2014 - Comments

deontay755By Scott Gilfoid: This Saturday night boxing fans could get a brief glimpse of #1 WBC heavyweight contender Deontay Wilder (31-0, 31 KOs) as he looks to shine against Jason Gavern (25-16-4, 11 KOs) on Showtime.

There’s been no official word about whether the Wilder-Gavern will be televised as part of the Showtime triple-header, so I’m assuming that fans will only get a brief review of the fight in between one the three fights on the televised portion of the card. The fights that are scheduled to be televised by Showtime are the following bouts: Kell Brook vs. Shawn Porter, Anthony Dirrell vs. Sakio Bika 2 and Omar Figueroa vs. Daniel Estrada.

Since those three fights are expected to be competitive in nature and Deontay’s fight is expected to be a massacre, I think it’s painfully obvious that fans are only going to get a quick replay of the Wilder-Gavern fight unless the fight ends in one rounds. I can see that happening.

The 6’7” Deontay has 18 knockouts in the 1st round, and he’s never been beyond the 4th round during his 6-year pro career. Gavern is a tough customer though, and he’s not going to want to become another notch on Deontay’s right hand gun handle. I expect Gavern to walk through fire to try and make it the distance with Deontay on Saturday night. I mean, I don’t see it happening, but I doubt that Gavern will let Deontay destroy him in 1 round like he’s done recently against the likes of Audley Harrison, Malik Scott and Sergey Liakovich.

Deontay said “I’m good to go. I’m always in shape. I’m always in the gym. I treat boxing like my nine to five. Others may not take it seriously, but this is a sport where you can get hurt if you don’t protect yourself and take it seriously. So I’m always tuned up and ready to go for my fans.”

Deontay is staying sharp for his world title shot later this year against WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne. He’s hoping Stiverne’s hand injury will be healed by November or December, but anything is possible.

Stiverne is 35 now, and he’s no spring chicken anymore. You get in your mid-30s and the injuries start popping up left and right unfortunately. As such, I wouldn’t be surprised if Deontay has to take another stay busy fight later this year against another opponent while waiting for Stiverne’s injuries to heal.



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