Bermane Stiverne’s win over Chris Arreola wasn’t one-sided by any means, but the Haitian-born fighter scored in impressive fashion when it mattered. On May 10th, 2014, Stiverne became the first Haitian to win a Heavyweight world title after he stopping his Californian foe in the 6th round of their vacant WBC Championship fight.
The scorecards reflected the competitiveness of the fight, coming in at 47-48, 47-48, and 48-47. Stiverne now improves to 24 wins, 21 knockouts, 1 loss, 1 draw, while Arreola falls to 36 wins, 31 knockouts, 4 losses.
Arreola gave his all in the contest, and should leave Los Angeles’ USC Galen Center with his head held high. Though he’s never quite looked the physical specimen, he came in great shape on the night, clearly taking the challenge seriously. And he performed well, too, landing big shots on his opponent, and asserting himself to good effect.
Unfortunately for him, Stiverne isn’t just a heavy-handed, granite-chinned fighter; the Haitian bided his time, threw out a good jab, and waited for the perfect time to exploit Arreola’s limited defenses with the perfect punch. That telling shot was a long, crunching straight-right which buckled the legs of Arreola, sending him to the canvas in the 6th round.
Arreola beat the count, but was immediately overwhelmed by hard shots from Stiverne. The Haitian dropped his man once more, and the referee waived off the contest shortly after at the 2:02 mark. Given his jellified legs and derailed senses, this was a very good call.
Going forward, it’s likely both pugilists’ careers will go in very different directions. Stiverne’s exclamation point win may well lead to an intriguing Wilder vs Stiverne matchup; Deontay Wilder is an exciting fighter who needs no introduction, so this fight would serve as a much-needed adrenaline shot to the Heavyweight division.
There are a lot of questions hanging over the knockout artist, Wilder, however – questions Stiverne could likely provide answers to if they were to meet in the ring. And if they do, Stiverne’s promoter Don King will be one happy man, indeed.
As for Arreola, this may well be his last world title shot. Since failing in his first against Vitali Klitschko in September 2009, he has also lost to Tomasz Adamek and also Stiverne in their first encounter. If he plans to fight on and rebuild, he will have to go about it rather quickly given his age of 33 years. Maybe he will find himself matched against one of Britain’s rising stars Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua in 2015?
On the night’s undercard, up-and-comer Amir Imam fought to a Unanimous Decision against Yordenis Ugas. Ringside judges had the Junior Welterweight bout at 78-74, 78-74, and 79-73. Imam now bulks his unblemished record to 14 wins, 12 knockouts, while Ugas’ reduces to 15 wins, 7 knockouts, 3 losses.
What did you think of Arreola vs Stiverne II? Given Stiverne’s solid fundamentals, patience and power, could he topple Wladimir Klitschko or Wilder? Also, how would you see those fights panning out?
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