Deontay Wilder (33-0, 32 KOs) becomes the first undefeated American heavyweight champion since 1992 by out boxing the extremely durable Bermane Stiverne (24-2-1, 21 KOs). Wilder managed to establish his jab early on, and repeatedly landed straight rights from a safe distance. Since Stiverne is a much more conservative smaller fighter, he was unable to impose his counterpunching abilities on Wilder due to the reach and height differential.
Stiverne grew frustrated and tried to bait Wilder into verbal jibes and exchanges, but Wilder maintained his composure and continued to pepper the former champion from long range. Even when Wilder staggered the Haitian fighter in several rounds, he continued to fight in an intelligent manner and pick his shots. There would be a couple of rounds in the middle of the fight where Stiverne would gain momentum by having successful spurts, but it wasn’t enough to ever completely turn the fight around in his favor. Wilder managed to score a lopsided unanimous decision victory by the scores of 118-109, 119-108, and 120-107.
Wilder certainly answered many of the questions the general public had about him leading up to the fight. Wilder proved he could box, take a punch, and go the distance. Without all three of these qualities Wilder would not have been able to raise his hands at the end of the fight. And now as the new WBC heavyweight champion, the sky’s the limit for Wilder. His charismatic personality, and ability in the ring has the potential to bring newfound excitement into the heavyweight division. In the post fight interview he expressed that he wanted to make several defenses this upcoming year, and people have already speculated that some may be aired on the NBC network.
