In what would be one of the bigger heavyweight matchups of recent years, WBC heavyweight titleholder Deontay Wilder and his Al Haymon led team are reportedly trying to put together a defense against much avoided Cuban slugger Luis Ortiz. The WBC has mandated a pointless rematch against already easily dismissed challenger Bermane Stiverne, however, and he is declaring that he will not allow this fight to happen.
In May 2014, Haitian heavyweight contender Bermane Stiverne (25-2-1, 21 KOs) received a vacant WBC title shot against Chris Arreola. That in itself was a pointless rematch as Stiverne had just beaten Arreola, but regardless he won the belt that Vitali Kitschko vacated upon his retirement.
Stiverne’s first defense was against rising American prospect Deontay Wilder (38-0, 37 KOs). At the time, Wilder held a perfect knockout record. Stiverne was the first and to this day still the only man to make it the distance against the young power puncher, but the fight was by no means close. The scores came back a near shut out and were accurate for it.
Stiverne has only fought once since then, a shaky end of 2015 win against journeymn Derric Rossy in which Bermane did not look good at all. That was over a year and a half ago now too. For reasons that I cannot even begin to try to comprehend, the WBC deems this enough to earn a rematch of a fight that he wasn’t competitive in to begin with.
Wilder and his team are looking for a much bigger, more profitable fight and understandably so. A rematch of a one sided, nondescript defense is not in hot demand with the television networks. A match with Luis Ortiz (27-0, 23 KOs), however, certainly would be as the Cuban has been one of the most avoided fighters in the sport for a couple of years now.
The hope in Wilder’s camp is that they can pay Stiverne a step aside fee to delay their rematch. Often fighters accept these as they are essentially free money that only delays, not cancels a fight. Stiverne’s promoter Don King, and yes he is still around, seemed amenable, but Stiverne himself is claiming that he is hiring a law team to enforce the mandatory. In truth, that is his right to do so. The real issue here is the WBC ever making him the mandatory challenger to begin with.
Should the odds be bucked here and the Wilder/Ortiz fight happen, the target date and venue are November 4th at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn, NY.
