BERMANE STIVERNE IS ORDERED BY THE WBC AS DEONTAY WILDER’S MANDATORY
Mexico City, Mexico (February 27th, 2017)– Bermane Stiverne will have a chance to win his title back.
He was soundly defeated by Deontay Wilder in January 2015, but more than two years later, there’s going to be a rematch. The WBC announced Sunday that Stiverne is now the No. 1 contender and a heavyweight championship bout was officially ordered.
The free negotiating period will begin Monday, and if no deal can be struck, a purse bid will take place. In that scenario, Wilder, the champ, would receive 70%, with Stiverne earning 30%.
The announcement comes one day after Wilder retained his title with a fifth-round stoppage of Gerald Washington in the champ’s native Alabama.
It was Wilder’s first fight since surgery to repair a broken right hand and torn biceps.
Wilder topped Stiverne during their first encounter via unanimous decision, the only time Wilder has been taken the 12-round distance.
Stiverne is also far and away the best fighter Wilder has beaten. He was supposed to face Alexander Povetkin last May, but the Russian tested positive for the banned substance meldonium and the fight was cancelled.
Povetkin then was set to face Stiverne in December in a bout to determine the new No. 1 contender to the title held by Wilder, but the Russian once again failed a drug test, and that fight, too, was called off.
Wilder has plans to fight fellow titleholder Joseph Parker in a unification fight later this year, but first, Stiverne is getting his chance.
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