Wilder to power past Stiverne en route to Joshua mega fight

Undefeated American eyeing up unification bout

Deontay Wilder takes on Bermane Stiverne on Saturday night in Brooklyn in a mandatory defence of his WBC world heavyweight title.

Despite this fight, Wilder will already be eyeing up a heavyweight super fight with Anthony Joshua in the coming months.

The Briton has cemented his place as the king of the division after a stunning two years.

In Tyson Fury’s absence, Wilder is seen as Joshua’s most dangerous opponent. And the only thing stopping him unifying the heavyweight belts.

The Coral News Team take a look at how Wilder-Stiverne might pan out.

Does Stiverne pose a threat?

In short, yes – Stiverne should not be taken lightly. Wilder has already beaten him back in 2015 in a unanimous decision to become WBC strap-holder.

However, of his 38 previous bouts, Stiverne was the only fighter Wilder couldn’t stop. It’s the one blot on an otherwise perfect record of knockouts.

Stiverne has a relatively decent pedigree, too, beating Chris Arreola twice in 2013 and 2014.

The Haitian-American has only lost twice in a 28-fight career. And one of those included that points defeat to Wilder two years ago.

Fight prediction

At 1/20, Wilder is a massive favourite with Coral. You can get boxing odds of 8/1 on Stiverne causing a major upset.

The only thing stopping Wilder from a comfortable win here is complacency. It’s only natural for the undefeated American to be looking towards Joshua. But he can’t take his eye off the ball too much.