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De La Hoya: Stiverne-Wilder eyed for January in Las Vegas on Showtime

Fighters Network
25
Nov

The Bermane Stiverne-Deontay Wilder WBC heavyweight title bout could be headed for Las Vegas in January and be televised on Showtime, Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya informed RingTV.com on Tuesday.

Although a definitive agreement was reached last month between Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 knockouts) and Wilder (32-0, 32 KOs), a date, venue and network still had yet to be determined.

“All of the parties have come to terms, and, now, we’re just waiting on Showtime. Most likely, it will be Jan. 17, or the following weekend,” said De La Hoya. “But we’re just waiting for a confirmation on Showtime. We still have to lock down the venue, so it most likely will be Vegas. But, again, we have to obviously lock that down.”

Promoted by Don King, Stiverne, 36, is coming off a sixth round technical knockout over Chris Arreola in May that earned the belt which had been vacated when Vitali Klitschko retired to pursue a political career in Ukraine. The victory also made Stiverne the first heavyweight champion of Haitian descent.



Stiverne-Arreola was a rematch of an earlier bout in April 2013, during which Stiverne floored Arreola in the third round of a unanimous decision victory. Stiverne is 12-0-1 with nine stoppages since being knocked out in the fourth round by Demetrice King in July 2007.

A 29-year-old 2008 U.S. Olympic bronze medalist and the last American man to medal in Olympic boxing, Wilder, 29, is coming off a fourth round knockout of Jason Gavern, whom he dropped in the third and final rounds.

Prior to Gavern, Wilder became Stiverne’s mandatory challenger with a 96-second knockout of Malik Scott in a WBC eliminator bout in March.

Although King declined comment on the Stiverne-Wilder, Bob Bennett is enthused about the prospects of landing the fight.

“A request has not been put in for a venue, but let’s hope so. I would just say that we, in Las Vegas, would have a great venue. Any place in Las Vegas would be a great venue,” said Bennett, executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

“To have that fight in Las Vegas, we would be honored and we would look forward to regulating that. I’m not sure where the fight is going to be at this time, but we would be privileged to regulate that heavyweight championship fight.”

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