Deontay Wilder fought past the fourth round for the first time in his career, but used a brilliant exhibition of boxing to remain undefeated with a unanimous decision victory against Bermane Stiverne and take Stiverne’s WBC heavyweight belt.
Wilder (33-0, 32 KOs), from Tuscaloosa, Ala., becomes the first American to hold the heavyweight belt since Shannon Briggs in 2006.
He’s the first undefeated American heavyweight champion since Riddick Bowe in 1993.
One judge gave Wilder every round, scoring it 120-107, and the other two scored it 119-108 and 118-109, giving the new champion a near shutout victory.
Wilder, the last American male to win an Olympic boxing medal with a bronze in 2008 in Beijing, didn’t get a knockout for the first time in his career but dominated Stiverne from the start, landing 53% of his power punches, and working his jab to perfection. He went 12 rounds in a fight between two knockout artists that nobody could have predicted.
“I think I answered a lot of questions tonight,” Wilder, nicknamed “The Bronze Bomber,” said. “All the work is done in camp.”
“I’m excited, man, to bring the heavyweight title back to America, officially.”
Wilder said before the fight he thought he’d knock Stiverne out in four rounds or less, but said, “We trained for a 12-round fight. Twelve rounds is an appetizer. We can do that. We can do 15 or 20 rounds. We worked hard.”
Asked when he was ready to fight again, Wilder said, “I’m ready now. We just want to bring excitement back to the heavyweight division. I don’t want to be a heavyweight champion that sits around for a year or two. I want to fight three, or if I’m lucky, four times a year.”
He has said he’d like to fight British heavyweight Tyson Fury next. Fury is even taller than the 6-7 Wilder, standing 6-9. He’s also undefeated at 23-0 with 17 KOs.
Stiverne (24-2-1, 21 KOs), promoted by legendary Don King, inexplicably never let his hands go and lost most of the rounds by being easily outworked by Wilder, who proved to a doubting public that he could box as well as punch, and last as long as he needed to..Several times during the fight Wilder threw powerful combinations that seemed to hurt Stiverne, but the now former champion has never been knocked down and kept that streak alive.
Stiverne, the first heavyweight champion from Haiti, was forlorn after the fight, saying he was ready mentally, but not physically. “It wasn’t my night,” he said. “I didn’t feel 100 percent.”
Stiverne, who won the title with a sixth-round TKO of Chris Arreola last May, lost in his first defense of the WBC belt.
