Deontay Wilder: Gavern comes to win

By T.Baker - 08/16/2014 - Comments

Heavyweight Deontay Wilder (31-0, 31 KOs) will be in action tonight against journeyman Jason Gavern (25-16-4, 11 KOs) in a 10 round bout on Showtime Extreme from the StubHub Center in Carson, California.

This a stay busy fight for Deontay to keep him on his toes for his title shot against WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne later this year. Deontay says that Gavern fight is a risky one for him because if he were potentially get beaten by him, then he’ll lose his title shot against Stiverne.

He’ll be eliminated for contention for that fight, and will need to work his way back to a title shot over time. It took Deontay 6 years to get to this point in his career where he’s finally about to fight for a title, and he doesn’t want to have to get back in line for another long wait.

“Gavern comes to fight,” Wilder said to IFL TV. “I had him in camp before and he did the best that he could do. He says ‘come on and hit me. Come on. Is that the best you got?’ He makes you want to hit him again.”

Based on that description, it doesn’t sound like Gavern did too well during that camp that Deontay was with him.

Gavern, 37, is giving up a lot in the age, power, speed and skills department against Deontay in this fight. And while you can’t ever dismiss any fighter completely, Gavern has next to no chance of beating Deontay tonight. This is like Danny Garcia vs. Rod Salka in a way, but the difference here is that Gavern and Deontay are both in the same division rather than Deontay being matched by his adviser Al Haymon against a guy in the division below him at cruiserweight.

Gavern has learned a lot from the experience he’s had with top heavyweights during his career. But unfortunately, Gavern won’t likely be around long enough to utilize the experience he has. Deontay will be looking to destroy Gavern in the 1st round, and it’s going to be very tough for Gavern to get past the 1st once Deontay starts nailing him right hands.