Both Trevor Bryan and Bermane Stiverne, who will clash tonight on Don King’s troubled card in Hollywood, Florida, have weighed-in.
And these two heavyweights really are heavyweights. Both men scaled a little over the 267-pound mark – Bryan at 267.6, Stiverne at 267.4. Worryingly, both guys are a heck of a lot heavier than they were when they fought their last title fight.
Bryan, much younger, at age 31 to Stiverne’s 42 years, weighed just 236 pounds in his last fight, this taking place in August of 2018 when Bryan stopped BJ Flores to win the version of the WBA heavyweight title he may or may not defend against Stiverne tonight.
With all that time out of the ring, and now with the 31 pounds of extra weight, is Bryan ready to fall victim of an upset?
Stiverne is a few pounds lighter than he was in his last fight, this a February 2019 stoppage loss to Joe Joyce. Back then, the former WBC heavyweight champ weighed a whopping 273 pounds.
In his fight before that, when he was iced in a round in his return fight with Deontay Wilder, Stiverne came it at 254. In the first fight with Wilder, in 2015, Stiverne weighed 239. It’s clear Stiverne is carrying too much weight nowadays.
But who knows what might happen tonight? Two big, perhaps out of shape heavyweights who have both been out of action for many months, both of whom can punch pretty hard.
Add it all up, and it’s possible we could see both guys take a fall or two before the fight ends. It would be a real shame for Bryan if, after all the time he has been forced to remain idle, he was turned over by Stiverne.
Then again, Stiverne’s career would enjoy something of a revival if he did manage to score the upset.
With these two big, big guys, anything might happen. Who knows, this much-maligned fight, now the headliner of a much-maligned card, might just turn out to be a most enertaining action fight – whoever wins.
With the current lack of live boxing action, we fans should, I suppose, be grateful for Bryan, 20-0(14) and Stiverne, 25-4-1(21) getting in there and fighting.
Let’s hope both guys are in good enough shape to be able to fight hard tonight.