I guess there are worse things that could happen in boxing but will a Bermane “B. Ware” Stiverne, 23-1 (20), of Las Vegas, NV, the No. 1 WBC contender victory over Chris “The Nightmare” Arreola, 36-3 (31), of Escondido, CA, the No. 2 contender bring promoter Don King back into the heavyweight division picture? They meet for the vacant WBC heavyweight title on May 10th at the Galen Center at USC in Los Angeles, CA, promoted by Goosen Tutor Promotions (Dan Goosen) who represent Arreola. King promotes Stiverne.
With Wladimir Klitschko holding the WBA, IBF and WBO titles the winner could be in for a very lucrative pay day if they get to meet the 3-organization champion who would probably like nothing better than to win his brother Vitali’s vacated title given up in order to run for President of the Ukraine!
On paper you have to wonder how competitive this fight will be since Stiverne broke the nose of Arreola, knocked him down in the 3rd and won a lopsided decision (117-110, 117-110, 118-109) over 12 rounds for the WBC Silver title just a year ago in April of 2013 at Citizens Bank Arena, Ontario, CA? Arreola has stated Stiverne should have stopped him if he could punch. Only the WBO ranks both fighters with Arreola No. 10 and Stiverne No. 12.
Since that defeat Arreola came back to stop Seth Mitchell in 1 round in September of 2013 for the WBC International title while Stiverne has not fought since defeating Arreola in their April 2013 fight. There seems to be a big promotional push that since Stiverne was born in LaPlaine, Haiti and Arreola who was born in Los Angeles but is of Mexican descent it would be a first for either country or nationality having their first heavyweight champion!
Stiverne has a 1 inch in height and a 4 inch reach advantage. Almost half his opponents since turning professional in 2005 haven’t had winning records and has only had one 10 round and two 12 round bouts under his belt. Did the broken nose have a larger effect on the outcome of his fight with Arreola than it seems?
On the other hand Arreola has a dozen 10 rounder’s and a half dozen 12’s under his belt against much better competition. Both have only been stopped once in their careers. Stiverne is represented by Camille Estephan of Montreal, CAN, while Dan Goosen has handled all of Arreola’s business.
Stiverne’s draw in 6 (Charles Davis 17-17-1) in April of 2009 and LTKO2 (Demetrice King 11-15) in July of 2007 were to a pair of non-winning record fighters with no rematches. Whereas Arreola’s non-winning bouts were against Stiverne, in a WBC title fight against Vitali Klitschko, LRTD 10, in Los Angeles in September of 2009 (last US heavyweight title fight) and a LMD12 against Tomasz Adamek in Ontario, CA, in April of 2010 just 7 months later.
I have a feeling a large percentage of boxing fans will be pulling for an Arreola victory. The fight is being called “Fight for Peace”! Sounds like something King named claiming to this writer back in 2008 him being a supporter of world Peace. Meaning a piece of this and a piece of that? You be the judge! No matter what has been said about King over the years no one promotes a fight like him!
