Undefeated American heavyweight KO artist Deontay Wilder (32-0, 32 KOs) says he’s on a mission to defeat WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KOs) in their fight 13 days from now at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Deontay wants to capture the World Boxing Council title and bring it back to America. It’s a big deal for Deontay, as he doesn’t feel that the aging 36-year-old Stiverne rates to be the WBC title after he picked up the strap in beating Chris Arreola last May.
”I’m on a mission to rescue @SophiaTheBelt and become the NEW HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMP!! Join me on my journey #RoadToSophia,” Deontay said on his Twitter on Sunday.
It’s hard to believe there’s less than two weeks to go before these two big punchers step inside the ring to start throwing shots with mean intentions. This is easily the biggest fight in the heavyweight division for quite some time, perhaps since Wladimir Klitschko defeated David Haye in 2011.
There’s been a lot of heavyweight fights since then, but none of them can compare to the Stiverne-Wilder fight in terms of suspense, excitement and what’s at stake in the fight.
Wilder and Stiverne are two of the biggest punchers in the heavyweight division hands down. Deontay is probably No.1 and Stiverne close to the No.2 spot. Wladimir might have a slight edge on Stiverne due to his powerful left hook and the leverage he’s able to get on his shots from his 6’6” frame, but Stiverne is definitely close to him with his power.
The problem that Stiverne has is he lacks the height and arm length to deliver his huge bombs against the taller fighters. If you watch Stiverne’s fight against the 6’6” Ray Austin from four years ago, you can see Stiverne coming up short again and again with his power punches because of his lack of size. He was literally whiffing at air for most of the night.
If it hadn’t been for a mistake made by Austin in coming too close to Stiverne, we would have seen Austin win the fight. I mean, Stiverne was trailing in the fight going into the 10th and there was little chance that he was going to win the fight. The thing is, Austin was in his 40s when the fight took place and not the same guy he’d been earlier in his career, yet Stiverne still struggled badly against him.
If Deontay is able to deliver his right hands repeatedly in the first four rounds, it’s going to take a miracle for Stiverne to be able to take those shots. Like I said before, even if Stiverne does take the huge punishment from Deontay during the first four rounds, he’s going to be so light-headed and punch weary that it’s going to be next impossible for him to win the fight.
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