By Jeff Aranow: The World Boxing Council is reporting that they are no longer sanctioning the heavyweight title fight between WBC champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder (38-0, 37 KOs) and Luis “King Kong” Ortiz (27-0, 23 KOs) due to the adverse test results from the 38-year-old Cuban during a recent pre-fight drug screening.
Wilder will now be facing his mandatory challenger Bermane “B.Ware” Stiverne (25-2, 21 KOs) on November 4 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. This date was originally supposed to be the date for the Wilder vs. Ortiz fight, but his failed drug test now makes that untenable.
The WBC will NOT allow Ortiz to face Wilder, even though the “Bronze Bomber” tried to go to bat to get the WBC to still let the fight go ahead. The WBC will not let Ortiz take the fight given his adverse drug test findings.
Stiverne, 38, reportedly was given $675,000 to step aside so that Wilder could face Ortiz. It’s unclear if that number is correct, but it is, Stiverne was paid well. Now he’s got his title shot against Wilder, and the boxing public has a fight that could even be better than Wilder-Ortiz. The one potential negative about the Wilder-Stiverne 2 fight is the ring rust that Stiverne will bring to the bout.
Stiverne hasn’t fought in 2 years since his 10 round unanimous decision victory over Derric Rossy on November 14, 2015. That’s a long time for a fighter to be out of the ring, especially when they
Stiverne was scheduled to fight on the undercard of the Wilder-Ortiz card against former heavyweight world title challenger Dominic Breazeale. That fight is no longer happening. Stiverne now will slide up to the main event to face the 6’7” Wilder.
As for Breazeale, Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn is interested in having him fight his heavyweight Dillian Whyte on October 28 on the undercard of the Anthony Joshua vs. Kubrat Pulev card in Cardiff, Wales. If Breazeale takes the fight with Whyte, he could put himself in the position to get a rematch with Joshua. Breazeale (18-1, 16 KOs) lost to Joshua by a 7th round knockout on June 25, 2016. A rematch with Joshua would give Breazeale an even bigger payday now, as the British heavyweight is even more popular now than he was last year.
Wilder already beat Stiverne by a 12 round unanimous decision 2 years ago on January 17, 2015. The judges scored the fight 118-109, 119-108 and 120-107. The 6’7” Wilder was too tall for the 6’2” Stiverne, and much too mobile. Stiverne did land an occasional big shot, but he couldn’t put enough of his shots together for him to have a chance of winning the fight. Wilder broke his right hand early in the fight, otherwise he likely would have knocked Stiverne out.
Wilder was hitting Stiverne with a lot of tremendous shots in the fight, but he couldn’t get enough power on them to hurt him. If Wilder remains injury free in the rematch, he’d have a good chance of stopping Stiverne. Wilder has problems with hia right hand. He’s broken it several times during his boxing career, and he might suffer that injury again. Fortunately for Wilder, he’s got an excellent jab and a long reach o control the action against Stiverne.
Stiverne has fought only once since his loss to Wilder in beating Rossy by a 10 round decision in 2015.