Deontay Wilder, the next great hope of American boxing will soon be in the biggest fight of his career against WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne. Wilder is 31-0-0 in his career with all 31 wins coming by way of knockout, but Stiverne's trainer seems unconcerned by the fearsome puncher.
"I'm not worried about a guy like Wilder. Wilder hasn't fought a guy in the top 500. And he hasn't been past the 4th round. So I'm debating, should we take him in deep waters and let him see what it feels like or should we knock him out in the first 3 rounds?" Stiverne's trainer Don House said in an interview with FightHype.com.
"I know Deontay Wilder is getting knocked out in the gym with headgear on. Everybody telling me, so I'm not worried about Wilder. Wilder is 220 and he's 6'7". He is skinny as hell. Now if you were Lebron James, Lebron James is a real man. What is he, 6-foot-7" or 6-foot-8 and he weighs 255 pounds. That's a real soldier; no fat and athletic. If we had that in front of us, I'm a little concerned, but we got 220 at 6-foot-7"...frail."
Wilder predicts KO of Stiverne in Round 1
While most people wouldn't use the word frail to describe Wilder, his point about Wilder's opposition is notable. Stiverne doesn't necessarily have the flash and acclaim of the undefeated "Bronze Bomber," but he has defeated quality opponents in his career. Stiverne's beaten longtime contender Chris Arreola twice, and hasn't suffered a loss since 2007.
Frail or not Wilder's power is very real; many are ignoring Stiverne's power too. The first Haitian heavyweight champion in boxing history is 24-1-1 in his career, with 21 of those wins coming by way of knockout. He also has experience going deep in fights, whereas Wilder has rolled through everyone in his path within four rounds.
House said he and Stiverne pride themselves on being extremely conscious of conditioning always ready to go the distance. "We get stronger as the fight goes. Listen, my workout routine, we pulling tires up mountains, we running mountains, and I'm out there with him. I don't say, "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow, go run!" Nah brother, I'm out there with him," House told FightHype.com.
"The thing about this game, and any game for that matter, when you talk about competition, it's all about being in shape. You remember when the UNLV Running Rebels used to run through everybody in basketball? They wasn't the best team on the planet, but they were the best conditioned team on the planet. They would run you to death. So if you see me with a fighter and he is my fighter, you better believe that he's going to be in dog shape; if nothing else, he going to be in shape."
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