Bermane Stiverne

OTTAWA, Canada (August 13, 2013) -The latest ruling by the World Boxing Council (WBC), allowing its heavyweight champion, Vitali “Dr. Ironfist” Klitschko (45-2, 41 KOs), to avoid fighting No. 1 mandatory challenger Bermane “B. Ware” Stiverne (23-1, 20 KOs), has drawn anger from an increasingly frustrated Team Stiverne.

Stiverne has already won not one, but two WBC title eliminators, the latest against Chris Arreola (35-3, 30 KOs) on HBO this past April 27, and three different mandated purse bids have been postponed. Now, the WBC has announced that the 42-year-old Klitschko has suffered an injury to his right hand and he won’t return to the ring until 2014. Plus, the WBC will not make a decision regarding his title situation until the first-quarter of 2014, leaving Stiverne waiting even longer for his much deserved world title shot.

“I would hate to think the WBC treats some fighters more highly than others,” a terribly disappointed Stiverne said. “I don’t understand. (Timothy) Bradley was stripped when he was injured but I’ve read that the WBC would never strip Vitali. Do they have favorites? All fighters should be treated the same. We haven’t heard anything directly from the WBC. The WBC isn’t respecting us or its own rules. I remember when (Oleg) Maskaev was hurt before his fight with (Sam) Peter and Peter was named the WBC Interim champion. This isn’t fair or respectful, and it’s bad for boxing.”

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OTTAWA, Canada (July 26, 2013) — When heavyweight contender Bermane “B. Ware” Stiverne (21-1, 20 KOs) upset Chris Arreola (35-3, 30 KOs) on HBO this past April 27, in a title elimination bout, it set-up the dangerous Canadian for a super fight versus future Hall of Famer and long-time World Boxing Council (WBC) World Heavyweight Champion, Vitali Klitschko (45-2, 41 KOs).

Stiverne completely dominated former world title challenger Arreola, dropping him in the third round, en route to a unanimous 12-round decision (118-109, 117-110, 117-110) for the vacant WBC Silver title.

A purse bid was set and postponed, reset and re-postponed. Finally, July 22 was supposed to be the final purse bid date when, surprisingly, the WBC once again granted another extension requested by the Team Klitschko, forcing the mandatory challenger to wait once again for his world title shot that he has now earned twice by winning a pair “title elimination” bouts. WBO No. 1 contender Stiverne, who is also rated No. 10 in the world by The Ring Magazine, had knocked out Ray Austin in the 10th round of their WBC heavyweight title eliminator on June 25, 2011.

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