In his first fight since dropping a unanimous decision to Deontay Wilder and a subsequent health scare after suffering from severe dehydration back in January, Bermaine Stiverne (25-2-1) returned to the ring on Saturday in Las Vegas and earned a unanimous decision over Derric Rossy (30-11) after surprisingly having to peel himself off the canvas in the first round.

Judges saw it in favor of Stiverne with scores of 95-94, 96-93, 96-93. After the fight, which took place on the Frank Galarza-Jarrett Hurd undercard, Don King stated that he would like to see Stiverne back in action in the early part of 2016.

The former WBC heavyweight champion was just warming up in the first round when Rossy caught him with a straight right hand that sent Stiverne to the canvas. The Haitian Canadian rose and seemed more shocked than hurt before going right back to work. With Rossy deploying a disciplined game plan of constant movement and popping the jab whenever his opponent closed the distance, Stiverne made a decision to stop headhunting and focus his attack on the body. But as the rounds wore on, the body assault appeared to pay off as Rossy would end up stationary with his back pinned up against the ropes as Stiverne launched the heavy artillery that bloodied Rossy up in Round 4 and landed a sneaky left hook that staggered him in Round 5.

However, Rossy stuck to his game plan and kept testing Stiverne’s conditioning as his opponent continued to stalk throughout the ten round affair. Rossy kept Stiverne guessing by firing a jab to fend off his advances and slipping out of the back door before Stiverne was in punching range. But it would be Stiverne who would get the better of the exchanges and decidedly go back to the body and hurt Rossy on several occasions as the fight came to a close.