(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) By John Stevens: As an obsessive boxing fan and participant for the last 40+ years I wanted to write in and say some words regarding this very important and interesting fight. Thus – I wanted to present a clear and open synopsis, looking at both men individually and seeing exactly where we are in this very intriguing contest which to me looks like an explosion waiting to happen!
The shadow of the great Wladimir Klitschko hangs over this of course, as he is the man to beat for the victor of this fight (But that is another story!) – However, Wladimir must surely be looking to wind down within the next few years after a long and pretty incredible career, thus leaving the door open for one of the two guys in this contest to take over his crown, not to mention a pretty long line of tasty heavyweights coming up through the ranks right now who are looking to stake their claim too. Exciting times ahead for sure; but I digress – lets look now at the two protagonists in this battle and see what we’ve got……
Bermane Stiverne
I remember seeing Bermane very early on in his career and thinking that this was a heavyweight champ in the making. Lets look at his attributes
Boxing skill:
This guy is a very slick boxer, make no mistake. Deceptively lazy looking at times, he can also be very explosive. People have mentioned that he tends to lie on the ropes at times and he showed that against Chris Arreola – but I feel that this stance was a calculated move on his part in those two fights. Styles make fights, and Arreola, being a straight ahead fighter, was always gonna come in and blast away whilst Stiverne laid there. Eventually, he paid the price for this. Stiverne has in fact very rarely employed this tactic throughout his career and in the majority of his fights has adopted a come forward style himself. Thus I feel that it was a planned move on his behalf in order to lure Chris in and counter-attack (which he did very well!) and I don’t see him adopting this style against wilder (that would definitely be a bad move and im pretty sure he knows it) Stiverne has a very good boxing brain and is highly skilled with great body movement. I see a very different approach from Stiverne in this fight
Punch power:
Stiverne can bang very hard indeed. In both fights with Arreola especially he showed this. In the first encounter he threw one of the most terrifying right hand punches I’ve ever seen in boxing. How Arreola got up from it and fought on was a miracle and a testament to that mans heart and resilience. In the second fight he threw another right that separated Chris from his senses and ended the contest. Arreola lets not forget, is one tough cookie and does not fall over easily, as Vitali Klitschko discovered. So to do that to the guy twice was a bit of a statement and shows you just how much power Stiverne has at his disposal
Punch resistance:
Stiverne appears to be very solid around the whiskers. Arreola, who is a very heavy handed fighter himself, clubbed him clean many times and Stiverne never looked in any trouble. Much has been made of his stoppage by Demetrice king a few years back. But ive watched that fight many times and in my opinion it was one of the worst stoppage decisions by a referee ive ever seen. For sure king was throwing some heavy punches whilst Stiverne was on the ropes but he looked very clear-eyed to me and most of the blows were getting blocked; so I wouldn’t read too much into that particular fight
Past opponents:
Aside from Arreola the only real names on Stiverne’s record are Franklin Lawrence and Ray Austin. The Lawrence fight can’t be counted as it was all over in the 1st round after Lawrence received an arm injury, but the Austin fight was very intriguing. Stiverne adopted mostly a come forward style here against the 6’6 austin. He very nearly took him out at the end of the first with a hard shot that had ray wobbling, and also a couple of other times during the bout before finally knocking him out with a devastating right hand in the 10th. Throughout that fight Bermane looked frustrated at times as Austin jabbed away at him. To evaluate this fight and Stiverne’s performance we have to look at Ray Austin himself. A very accomplished fighter in his own right, Austins legacy was tarnished somewhat by his defeat by Wladimir where he froze and was taken out early. This is hardly a good summary of the man though. Ray, at his best, was a very dangerous fighter, as evidenced best by his epic battle with Sultan Ibragimov; a back and forth war which ended in a draw. He also very nearly decapitated Andrew Golota in their bout and has knockout victories over Cisse Salif (a very rugged fighter himself) and DaVarryl Williamson – he also took Odlanier Solis into deep water before getting disqualified in the later stages. No slouch then, but Stiverne, whilst at times getting out-boxed, always looked dangerous throughout and finally took him out
Now lets look at his opponent, Deontay Wilder
Boxing skill:
With all due respect, Deontay has not shown a great deal of skill or boxing intelligence thus far, (not that hes had to really though seeing as all his fights have ended so quick) – so its hard to judge exactly how good he is in this department. Teddy Atlas has commented a few times that Wilder has to ‘learn how to box’ and teddy knows his stuff but really, I cant believe that he has come this far without knowing the fundamentals and how to use them, especially considering his size. He has never had to employ too much skill to get the job done so far, though he has looked very good in the way he puts his punches together. We shall see!
Punch power:
No question about it that this guy can hit like a mule. The best KO on his resume by far is the destruction of Sergei Liakovich. Sergei is not a man who goes down easy, and the times he has been stopped have been in the later rounds – but he was totally pole-axed in this fight, lying on the canvas with his leg shaking. This was a frightening knockout. Likewise in the Kelvin price fight which was also a massive KO. Wilder can punch oh yes!
Punch resistance:
The jury is out here. We simply do not know how this guy can take a punch as hes never been hit clean by anyone of any substance in all his pro fights so far. Much has been said of how he was knocked out in the amateurs but we can disregard that as that’s par for the ccourse during learning days. Also people talk about how David Haye rocked him in sparring. The facts are – we really don’t know how wilder is going to react when hit hard by a top fighter, cos it simply hasn’t happened yet; and for sure, he is going to have to taste some big, big punches in this fight. So again, we will have to see
Past opponents:
Wilder’s opponents thus far have been mostly journeymen, including some pretty high levels ones in Jason Gavern and Nicolai Firtha. He did have that devastating KO over Kelvin Price however, a man who was being touted as an up and comer himself, as well as against Audley Harrison, a guy who, whatever you may think of him, was an Olympian and contender in his own right at one time. By far the biggest name on Wilder’s sheet is that of Sergei Liakovich. Sergei may well be damaged goods these days ever since his life or death fight against Brewster back in 2007 – but he is still a very capable fighter (he just took big-hitting Andy Ruiz the distance) – Sergei, as mentioned, is a also a very tough cookie who doesn’t fold easy, but wilder just obliterated him. Stiverne however, is a big step up in class for him at this stage of his career no doubt about that, and head and shoulders above anyone else he has faced.
Verdict
This is a fight that I just cannot call. On paper, Stiverne should win. But Wilder has looked so devastating that you just cannot rule out him coming out and blitzing Bermane just like hes done everyone else. I don’t know! What I do know however is that I am very excited indeed about this fight and I feel for sure we are going to be looking at a real heavyweight slug-fest! Its gonna be a good ‘un! And may the best man win.
Comments are closed.