Boxing Results: Jonathan Guidry defeats Bermane Stiverene

By Boxing News - 01/22/2023 - Comments

By Craig Daly: Fringe contender Jonathan Guidry (19-1-2, 10 KOs) easily defeated the former WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne (25-6-1, 21 KOs) by a lopsided 10 round unanimous decision at the Casino Miami Jai Alai, Miami, Florida.

The judge’s scores were 100-91, 97-93, and 100-91. Boxing News 24 had it 100-91 for Guidry.

Stiverne’s power had the short 5’11” Guidry fighting like he was walking on eggshells through the first five rounds, afraid to throw more than a tiny handful of shots each round for fear of getting his lights turned off by one of the big counters.

You could see that Stiverne was waiting to blast Guidry out with one of his counters in the early going, but he didn’t have the opportunity because of the low work rate for his obscure opponent.

In a fight that fell below the radar of the average fan due to the lack of massive publicity, Stiverne pressured the little-known Guidry throughout the 10-round contest, forcing him to fight off the back foot to avoid the huge swings from the still very powerful former world champion.

Stiverne wasn’t fast or nimble enough to get to Guidry to frequently use his power advantage to knock him out, as he likely would have done had he been able to get to the Louisiana native if he’d been able to get to his chin consistently.

With Stiverne visibly tiring in the second half of the fight, the younger 33-year-old Guidry turned up the heat, landing choice shots to the head & body of the aging warrior.

Sadly, the fight was just the fourth in the last eight years for the 44-year-old Stiverne, who looked like the shell of the former WBC world champion he’d been from 2014 to 2015.

Guidry picked up his second win since losing a wide 12 round unanimous decision to Trevor Bryan last year in January in an attempt to capture the WBA ‘regular’ heavyweight title.

Bryan, an average fighter at best, dropped Guidry in the twelfth round and had an easy time banging out a 12 round unanimous decision.

The promoters for Guidry have their work cut out for them if they want to put him in a position to fight for another world title because he’s not likely to be given a #1 ranking fighting guy like 44-year-old Stiverne and the other mostly unknown fighters on his resume.

You hate to say it, but none of the world champions are going to look Guidry’s way to give him a voluntary shot at their belts, which means he’s going to have to go the mandatory route if he wants a crack at one of the belts.