Deontay Wilder?s failure to maintain his 100 percent knockouts record Saturday actually made him look good as he wrested the WBC heavyweight championship from Bermane Stiverne in Las Vegas on Showtime.
Wilder, who is 6-foot-7, used his left jab to keep Stiverne at bay in a bout that ended up casting Wilder, whose previous 32 victims all fell within four rounds, as the boxer and Stiverne as the heavy puncher.
The scorecards read 118-109, 120-107, and 119-108.
Stiverne had good moments in the fourth and sixth rounds, when he was able to stay close enough to render Wilder less effective. But Wilder landed a huge right-left-right combination in the seventh round, gaining a 10-8 margin for the seventh on all scorecards, and it wasn?t long before what few punches Stiverne could land lacked sufficient steam.
?I think I answered a lot of questions tonight,? said Wilder (33-0). ?We knew we could go 12 rounds. We knew we could take a punch.?
Stiverne has been a bit of a mongoose in his best fights, including recent victories over Cristobal Arreola in which he gave away early rounds and suddenly turned the fights around at mid-bout, and that seemed possible Saturday in the fourth through sixth rounds. But Wilder?s length and Stiverne?s wariness of Wilder?s power both restricted the defending champion, who is from Canada..
?I didn?t feel 100 percent,? said Stiverne, who weighed a paunchy 239. ?I just couldn?t cut the ring. I couldn?t move my head ? the way I usually do.
?It just couldn?t come out. I?d try to throw four or five punches and I could only throw two of them.
?Mentally I was ready, but physically it was a totally different scenario.?
Whether Wilder is ready for the holder of the other three heavyweight belts, Wladimir Klitschko, wasn?t clear. They have similar styles and frames, but Wilder weighed in at only 219 pounds, about 30 less than Klitschko carries, and his power punches didn?t look as percussive as Klitschko?s, either.
But Wilder is eager and took pride in becoming the first American to hold a heavyweight title since Shannon Briggs and the first undefeated American to win one since Riddick Bowe. ?I want,? Wilder said, ?to bring excitement back to the heavyweight division.?
Other fights: Featherweight Leo Santa Cruz (29-0-1, 17 knockouts) didn?t stand out much against journeyman Jesus Ruiz for the first six rounds before rallying for an eighth-round stoppage, and junior welterweight Amir Imam (16-0, 14 knockouts) defeated Fidel Maldonado in a bout that featured five knockdowns.
