By Scott Gilfoid: Well, it looks like boxing fans are going to need to wait another 3-4 more months for the long-awaited heavyweight clash between WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KOs) and the unbeaten Deontay Wilder (32-0, 32 KOs).
According to Rick Glaser, he spoke to Stivern’s promoter Don King and he’s saying the Stiverne vs. Wilder fight will likely take place in January or February of 2015.
By Scott Gilfoid: The fight negotiations between WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne and unbeaten #1 WBC Deontay Wilder got some good news on Wednesday with Stiverne’s manager Camille Estephan reporting to ESPN.com that they’ve agreed with promoter Don King for the financial side of the negotiations.
Now the only thing they need is a date and a venue, and of course the 6’7” Deontay to sign on for the fight. Getting Deontay and Golden Boy Promotions to agree to the terms shouldn’t be all that hard considering that Deontay has been pushing for the fight for months now ever since he wiped out Malik Scott in one round last March in the World Boxing Council heavyweight title eliminator bout.
By Scott Gilfoid: Heavyweight knockout artist Deontay Wilder (32-0, 32 KOs) expects to make it easy when he finally gets World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne (34-1-1, 21 KOs) for his mandated title shot in the near future.
Deontay had originally estimated that he’d face the soon to be 36-year-old Stiverne in November, but that obviously isn’t happening. December is likely out as well. We’re probably looking at the fight taking place in the first half of 2015.
By Scott Gilfoid: Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya has agreed with WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne’s promoter Don King to a financial deal for fight between the Golden Boy promoted Deontay Wilder (32-0, 32 KOs) and Stiverne, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN. What De La Hoya doesn’t have yet is a date and a venue for the fight, and that’s why he opted not to sign the contract. Until those areas are filled in by King, De La Hoya won’t give a green light to the fight.
They’ve already had two postponements for purse bids, and it’s unclear whether they’re going to need to have another. However, if they don’t make a deal soon then it’s likely that WBC president Mauricio Suliaman won’t give permission for a third postponement.
By Scott Gilfoid: Dan Rafael of ESPN is reporting that the purse bid scheduled for today between WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne and Deontay Wilder has been postponed for some unexplained reason.
If this turns out to be the case it would be the 2nd time the Wilder-Stiverne purse bids have been postponed, and it just makes you wonder how many times the World Boxing Council will allow the purse bids to be postponed before they finally put their foot down and force the issue.
By Scott Gilfoid: Dan Rafael is reporting that Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya is saying that there still isn’t a deal between WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne and his mandatory challenger Deontay Wilder, but De La Hoya is still hopeful that he’ll be able to put a deal together before the scheduled Wilder-Stiverne purse bid this Wednesday, October 1st.
“In speaking to Oscar De La Hoya, he reiterated no deal yet for Stiverne-Wilder but hopes to close 1 w/Don King before Wednesday’s purse bid. #boxing.”
By Scott Gilfoid: It’s looking like the negotiations between WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KOs) and his #1 WBC mandatory challenger Deontay Wilder (32-0, 32 KOs) have reached a sticking point over the location for the fight. According to RDS, Stiverne’s promoter Camile Estephan wants the Wilder-Stiverne fight to take place in Montreal, Canada, but Deontay doesn’t want the fight to take place there.
If the two sides are unable to negotiate the fight, then it’ll go to purse bids on September 12th. From there it’ll be whoever has the deepest pockets to win the bid. Deontay is backed by the powerhouse promotional company Golden Boy.
By Scott Gilfoid: There’s a purse bid scheduled for September 12th for WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne and Deontay Wilder in case two fighter’s promoters are unable to negotiate a fight between them for later this year.
If goes to purse bids, then you can expect a fight to take place by November or December this year unless Stivern’s hand injury still isn’t healed by then.
If Stiverne is still injured, I wouldn’t be surprised if the World Boxing Council gives him the tag of ‘Champion in recess” so that Deontay can fight for the WBC title against the next available contender.
(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) By Francis: Having watched the available tapes of both Deontay Wilder and Bermane Stiverne, I have come to a conclusion that if they face each other, I favor Stiverne to win most likely by knockout. The reasons for my prediction are:
1. Stiverne seems to have more technical skill and boxing IQ than Wilder.
2. Stiverne has better defence.
3. Stiverne has faced far better opposition than Wilder, thus has more elite experience.
By Scott Gilfoid: With his win last night over a pudgy looking Mike Perez (20-0-1, 12 KOs), #2 WBC Bryant Jennings (19-0, 10 KOs) earned a shot to fight for the WBC heavyweight title against the winner of the November fight between Deontay Wilder and WBC belt holder Bermane Stiverne.
Jennings will likely take a tune-up fight before he faces the winner of the Wilder-Stiverne fight though, because he’s clearly not going to be getting that title shot until early 2015 given that those two will be fighting in November.
Jennings, 6’3”, 222lbs, is going to need to raise his game considerably from what we saw last night against Perez if he wants to have a chance of beating Wilder or Stiverne. I expect that Jennings will be facing Deontay and not Stiverne, but either way he’s going to be in big trouble against either of those guys.