Deontay Wilder boxing news
The big punching American, who has been out of action since winning the title in January against Canada-based Haitian Bermane Stiverne, broke his hand in that fight yet has promised his fans he is now more than ready to return.
“I will be back in the ring June 13th. Back in the state of Alabama, in Birmingham. And that’s my next fight. No opponent has been announced yet – we still gotta lot of ironing out to do – but June 13th I’ll be back.”
This weekend lineal heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (63-3,53ko) returns to America to fight Philadelphia’s Bryant Jennings (19-0,10ko) at Madison Square Garden in New York, the big Ukrainian fighter’s first fight on American soil in seven long years.
Nobody expects relative novice Jennings to trouble the dominant champion in a fight that is for all intents and purposes a mismatch. Jennings has only been boxing for 6 years in total, amateur AND professional and the question lies more in who is going to be the next star of the division?
Today is a day where there is life in the heavyweight scene and we have more than a handful of great fighters currently active. Many of the top guys around have already recorded a loss on their records though. This is mainly thanks to the Klitschko brothers who in the past had a habit of smashing undefeated heavyweights to bits once they stepped up. Today we can see guys like Povetkin, Pulev, Tarver, Solis, Cunningham, Mansour, Hammer, Stiverne, Perez, Szpilka, Chisora and Arreola all being rated as amongst the best heavyweights between them, despite having a lot of losses between them. But if we removed them from the equation that would be the best heavyweights out there, purely including the undefeated fighters only?
How often do you get to compare a professional in their seventh year to one in his second year? For myself it is not often but apparently that is normal for drawing comparsions between fellow olympians and current heavyweights Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder.
Both men are tall and strong and produce knockouts in high volume but that is really all you can tell so far. Anthony Joshua is still in the early stages of his career and has only just made it to double figures in total fights where as Deontay has now had 30+ bouts and his first world title. What is interesting is that other than the Stiverne fight they have been facing the same level of competition through 2014.
Tyson Fury has come out and said that he did not watch Wilders historic match against Bermane Stiverne to capture the WBC heavyweight title, but did congratulate him on his victory. The heavyweight scene is very open now with top talents like Bryant Jennings, Tyson Fury and Alexander Povetkin ready to take over from Wladimir Klitschko as the lineal champion of the world. The interesting thing is that Tyson Fury does not seem to be caught up in the hype around the newly crowned WBC strap holder and has his sights set solely on the main man in the division, Wladimir Klitschko.
Now the dust has settled on Deontay Wilders impressive and dominant twelve round unanimous decision over Bermane Stiverne to capture the WBC heavyweight title last month, many questions about him have been answered. Can he work for a full twelve round fight? Yes. Can he take a punch? Yes. Can he use fundimental techniques such as a strong jab and lateral movement. Yes. What this means however is that the division has a lot more questions to answer now. Who are the best heavyweights in the world? Are there other heavyweights who will be able to stand up to Wilders punches for a full twelve rounds? And who will be the fighter to finally end the Wladimir Klitschko express and dethrone him as the dominant face of the division (if anyone can do it!)
Deontay Wilder kept his win streak alive Saturday night at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, NV. Despite his victory, he disappointed some when he failed to kayo Bermane Stiverne to keep his streak alive. On the other hand, he demonstrated his endurance by totally dominating Stiverne over the course of 12 rounds. Stiverne was sure that if he could take Wilder into deep water, Wilder would tire and be vulnerable to the knockout. But, as is always the case, the water rose over the shorter man’s head first.
The compact Stiverne was the one submerged and gurgling. He stumbled around pushing his punches like he was underwater. Wilder was enjoying himself grinning and at the ease. He was making a monkey out of Stiverne., winning just about every round. He had Stiverne in trouble on more than one occasion, and used his reach to keep Stiverne at bay, piling up points with his jab.
Deontay Wilder has beaten Bermane Stiverne. Beaten him emphatically over twelve, mostly one sided rounds. While one might give a round or two to the man who calls himself B-Ware, at no point in the contest did it look like the Bronze Bomber was in any real danger. It was an evening reminiscent of the second clash between Tyson Fury and Dereck Chisora, with Deontay assuming the part played by the loquacious Traveller, contently jabbing his shorter foe into inactivity. Unlike Fury vs Chisora two, which mercifully was ended in the middle rounds, this one went the distance, a testament to the solid chin of Stiverne. Stiverne was passive in defeat, lamenting his lost title. In truth, loosing didn’t cost him the world heavyweight championship any more than winning would have secured it. The world heavyweight title was never his to win or lose. The actual heavyweight champion of the world was not in the arena that night, he was presumably watching the fight on TV just like the rest of us. I am not saying that it was a bad match up, what I am saying is that if this was the fight that brought the Heavyweight title back to America, then America was better off without it.
Main Event Becomes The Highest Rated Bout On Any Premium Network In The Past Year;
The Three-Fight Telecast Draws The Highest Rating on SHOWTIME® In More Than Two Years;
All Three Fights On The Live Telecast Rank In The Top-20 Most Watched Bouts On Record For The Network
SHOWTIME Sports garnered a record audience for Saturday’s 2015 SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING premiere telecast headlined by newly minted WBC Heavyweight World Champion Deontay Wilder in his breakout win over Bermane Stiverne. The main event ranks as the highest-rated fight on any premium network in the past 12 months while the entire three-fight telecast becomes the highest rated on SHOWTIME in more than two years. The Jan. 17 telecast attracted the second largest audience since 2004* behind the Miguel Cotto vs. Austin Trout event from Dec. 2012. (*since Nielsen began to separately measure premium television multiplex channels)
Two nights after being hospitalized following his loss to unbeaten challenger Deontay Wilder on SHOWTIME® from the MGM Grand Garden Arena, former WBC Heavyweight Champion Bermane Stiverne, his Hall of Fame promoter, Don King, and his trainer, Don House, hosted a press conference late today at the MGM Grand.
Here’s what they had to say:
PROMOTER DON KING
“We called this press conference because the Bermane we saw on Saturday night was not the Bermane we all know. Deontay Wilder did a very good job; this is not a press conference for excuses, it is for fact. The doctors at the hospital of the UMC said that he had a severe case of dehydration. His muscles were not working and they thought he had blood in his urine, so they took some tests and held him in the hospital until this morning.