Wilder has done pretty much all the talking and promoting for the fight, as Stiverne has played a backseat role in letting the American talent take the lead.
It’s made things easy for Stiverne because he’s been able to focus on his training rather than having to talk a lot like Deontay has been doing. But with Deontay, it’s no problem for him to talk his fight with Stiverne up because he’s naturally an outgoing individual and he’s confident of what he can do in the ring.
Deontay sees the short 6’2”, 36-year-old Stiverne as a fighter who is basically made to order for him. All the bad habits that Stiverne has in his game such as fighting with his left hand his side and laying against the ropes are things that Deontay feels he can capitalize on big time.
The only time Deontay has brief problems during his career is when his opponents have come forward and pressured him. Stiverne doesn’t do that though. He either stands perfectly still or backs up to the ropes to fight from a stationary point. On the rare occasions when Stiverne does come forward, he moves at a snails’ pace and is vulnerable to getting nailed with shots.
“I’m not going to just knock him out, I’m going to hurt that kid,” Stiverne said. “I feel like I’m fighting Muhammad Ali. He’s a great promoter, better than his or my promoter. I’m going to chop him down. I know I still have power in later rounds.”
We don’t really know if Deontay can carry his power to the later rounds like Stiverne, because all 32 of Deontay’s previous fights have gone 4 rounds or less. No one has been able to take his big right hand power shots to last into the later rounds. However, Deontay says that his power is still very much there in the later rounds when he spars with individuals.
In his fights, Deontay has looked scary powerful in the 4th round, and it’s hard to imagine that any of his opponents will be able to continue to take heavy punishment from him after the 4th.
Each one of Deontay’s lancing blows to the head are powerful enough to produce a knockout, and if a fighter has to continue to take those kinds of blows in rounds 5, 6 and 7, they’re not going to be in too good of shape to mount their own offensive attack.
If Stiverne drops his right hand, which is the only thing protecting his chin, to fire off a shot against Deontay, he could run into one of Deontay’s faster, more powerful right hands. Stiverne has got a good chin but he’s not invincible. He’s been stopped before by Demetrius King, a fighter who recently worked with Deontay as his sparring partner.
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