‘One King to Another’

Legendary boxing promoter Don King and his former WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne after he won the championship. Stiverne will get another shot at the coveted heavyweight title after the WBC ordered that he fight WBC champ Deontay Wilder in a rematch of their January 2015 confrontation.

Rematch ordered by WBC for Bermane Stiverne vs. Deontay Wilder

Don King promoted Bermane Stiverne will have a chance to win his title back.

After suffering from a severe case of dehydration, Stiverne was soundly defeated by Deontay Wilder in January 2015, but more than two years later, there’s going to be a rematch. The WBC announced recently that Stiverne is now the mandatory No. 1 contender and a heavyweight championship bout was officially ordered.

Following the free negotiating period that began following the WBC order, if no deal can be struck, a purse bid will take place. In that scenario, Wilder, the champ, would receive 70%, with Stiverne earning 30%.

The announcement came one day after Wilder retained his title with a fifth-round stoppage of unheralded Gerald Washington in the champ’s native Alabama.

It was Wilder’s first fight since surgery to repair a broken right hand and torn biceps.

Wilder topped Stiverne during their first encounter via unanimous decision, the only time Wilder has been taken the 12-round distance.

Stiverne is also far and away the best fighter Wilder has beaten. He was supposed to face Alexander Povetkin last May, but the Russian tested positive for the banned substance meldonium and the fight was cancelled.

Povetkin then was set to face Stiverne in December in a bout to determine the new No. 1 contender to the title held by Wilder, but the Russian once again failed a drug test, and that fight, too, was called off.

Wilder had plans to fight fellow titleholder Joseph Parker in a unification fight later this year, but must first face Stiverne.

This is the long awaited fight that Stiverne has been anticipating.

“My eyes were itching and I just was not feeling right leading up to the fight,” Stiverne told the Call & Post. He went to the hospital immediately following the fight, but plans on being in the best shape of his life for the rematch.